Strand Bookstore: go there

Spent 2 weeks in the US in June, visiting family in New Jersey and New York. My previous visit to the Big Apple was 30 years ago, and man had the city improved during that time. I was hoping to visit some bookstores with Asia related books and was looking for good ones in Chinatown without much luck. Someone suggested Strand bookstore (homepage here). Man, am I happy I took the advice. Founded in 1927, they advertise having 18 miles of books and I have to believe that. Apparently they supplied Steven Spielberg's library.

The Asian History section alone has to be more than 100 shelf-meters. There's piles of books everywhere! In addition, they have a whole section on exploration with lots of titles about Asia. Many of the volumes are second hand or review copies and pricing is attractive. There is a rare books collection as well, if you're into that kind of thing.

Best thing is, you never know what you'll find. There are so many books about Asia for example, that you will likely make new discoveries, that you did not realize you absolutely needed. I regrettably had to leave early as it was close to closing time, but still came with with a bagful of books. Very happy with what I found. I'm currently reading Derek Waller's The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia. A beautiful hard cover volume (originally a review copy).