End of a browsing heaven

The beloved Out of Town News in 2017

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

The closing the other week of the beloved Out of Town News, in the middle of Harvard Square, Cambridge, testifies to the challenges of the print media in the World Wide Web age, even in such a center of worldly literacy as the neighborhood of America’s most famous university (and with mighty MIT down a few blocks). I remember happily browsing the emporium’s magazines and newspapers from around the world when I lived in Cambridge for a few months, in 1970-71. Sometimes I’d rush over there to get an early edition of The Boston Herald Traveler for which I had written a news story to see what the editors may have done to it. Often the ink was still wet. During my early months in the newspaper business, I’d get considerable pleasure from seeing my byline; the pleasure then faded. Who cared?\]

Happily, physical books are still doing well. It’s tough on the eyes to read a lot of pages on a screen. Please hit this link to read “On the Joy of Physical Books”.