It started with a modern plea for help:
"Can I charge my dead phone in your bookstore?"
I was in Del Mar, California, walking up the coast of the Pacific Ocean after birding all morning in Torrey Pines. I was tracking my birds on eBird—the Peregrine Falcons, Anna's Hummingbirds, and California Scrub-Jays—and, of course, completely drained my phone's battery.
When I get to Del Mar I spy this hobbit-hole looking bookstore called Camino Books: For The Road Ahead and when I walk in I am suddenly thrust into a gorgeous Biblio Paradise. Camino Books is one of the most spectacular bookstores I've ever seen! I fall into the handwritten Staff Picks walls, nookish children's section, incredible curation, giant hand-drawn posters from Dave Eggers, and the Wonka-like atmosphere that creates a true feast for the eyes and mind!
But yeah ... my phone's dead. So I walk to the back counter and ask the gentleman unpacking boxes if I could plug it in back there. When I tell him I'm Canadian he gives me a quirky grin and says, "How many tariffs should I put on your free charge?" We laugh and start talking about the political scene. John has the aura of George Saunders—a certain "warm gnarliness"—and he tells me, "We have no left wing in this country. We're like an eagle slowly swirling to the ground with just one right wing." And I could immediately tell this poetic bookselling Jedi master needed to be recorded...
What emerges are the poetic distillations of 67-year-old John the Bookseller, along with his wife Alison who cameos at the end. They have been booksellers since 1981 ... a combined 88 years! No wonder the store's so great. They began in Berkeley and then opened up an independent bookstore chain called Diesel Books, up and down the California coast, and now have sold the store to open up a little new shop on the coast called Camino Books: For the Road Ahead.
Don't we all need a good book for the road ahead?
Let's talk about how to open a bookstore, California independence, fighting fascism, George Orwell, the 51st state, customers vs. readers, Susan Cain, the Spanish Civil War, how to 'stay awake,' and, of course, John and Alison's 3 most formative books.
This is the kind of mind-opening conversation that great bookstores create.
Let's head down to Del Mar, California as we flip the page to Chapter 149 now...
Chapter 149: John and Alison on fascism-fighting fiction fomenting freedom and fraternity
View full transcript here
CONNECT with John & Alison
John & Alison’s 3 Books
First book (19:00)
Second book (22:40)
Third book (24:47)
Fourth book (28:10)
WORDCLOUD OF THE CHAPTER
Quotes
“You see a great swath of humanity coming through the store. All ages, all types of people interested in all types of things. But they’re pretty civil in a bookstore. It’s pretty heartwarming.” — John & Alison | 3 Books Podcast
“There isn’t really a left wing in America. It’s like an eagle without a left wing and it’s just spiraling to the ground.” — John & Alison | 3 Books Podcast
“Independent bookstores are doing ok.” — John & Alison | 3 Books Podcast
“That balance between democracy and fascism has been bouncing back and forth ever since World War II.” — John & Alison | 3 Books Podcast
“Be passionate. Be curious. Listen and take care of everyone.” — John & Alison | 3 Books Podcast
Show Notes
‘My Next Breath’ by Jeremy Renner
‘The Maid Seeker’ by Nita Prose
‘Who Is Government’ by Michael Lewis
‘The Let Them Theory’ by Mel Robbins
‘Careless People’ by Sarah Wynn Williams
‘On Tyranny’ by Timothy Snyder
‘The Serviceberry’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer
‘Martyr!’ by Kaveh Akbar
‘Abundance’ by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
‘Aflame’ by Pico Iyer
‘Autocracy, Inc’ by Anne Applebaum
‘1984’ by George Orwell
‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell
