I’ve recently received invitations/pleas/requests from people urging me to join Facebook, Hi5, or one of the other popular social networking sites. My response: thanks for the invite, but no way! I have zero desire be part of a social network, or a group, or a gang, or any other online collection of people or buddies. Maybe it’s due to my burgeoning misanthrope tendencies, or simply the fact that I don’t want to drag every aspect of my life into the public domain. I don’t tweet, or chat, or network (damn, I hate using that word as a verb!), or use web cams. Texting, using e-mail, and posting this blog is about as high-tech as I care to get. Even when it comes to the blog, I have mixed reservations. I enjoy the writing part, but I have zero desire to open it up for comments. I shudder to think of the time I would waste having to read and/or reply to everything that others posted. No thanks!

Despite the fact that I don’t care to indulge in all the new electronic and online interfaces, I can certainly understand the appeal they have for so many others. But one thing that continues to stump me is the proliferation of laptop users I see in public. I realize this phenomenon is not confined to Bangkok — and perhaps it’s not as widespread here as it in the US or Europe — but I still find it very peculiar when I see some youngster (almost always under 30) walk in to my bookshop, order a cup of coffee, sit down at a table and then slouch over their computer for two or three hours — or longer. They obviously feel like they are entitled to use my shop as their personal space for as long as they like and are oblivious to the fact that real book-buying customers may want to use the table for something more than a work station. That’s one reason I will never have wi-fi installed in my shop; if I did, it would only attract more of these inconsiderate slackers. What puzzles me most is why these people feel the need to drag around their laptops and whip them out in public? To my mind, this is akin to public masturbation; nothing more than digital exhibitionism. I don’t want to see that! Don’t they have homes, offices, or hotel rooms where they can safely compute … or whatever it is they are doing? Why do they have to camp out in public places just to stare at a computer screen? I’m not a gadget guy or cyber guru, but that doesn’t mean I’m totally clueless. I really DO try to stay on top of the latest trends, or at least be aware of what’s going on out there in the real world. But when it comes to these laptop luggers, I’m baffled.

Last week at my bookshop we were treated to visits from Christopher G. Moore and Dean Barrett, both Bangkok-based authors of crime fiction that is usually set here in the city of angels and plastic bags. They are also both avid readers and invariably buy a few books when they drop by the store. Dean bought a Jonathan Lethem novel, Gun, With Occasional Music, while Chris was searching for some Richard Stark (the alias that Donald Westlake used for his “Parker” series) novels. Alas, we had none in stock. But I’m currently reading a copy of Stark’s Breakout (one of the more recent books in the Parker series), which I intend to hold for Chris when I’m finished. Meanwhile, check out the latest books by both authors: Dean’s newest is Identity Theft, while Chris has Paying Back Jack, the tenth in his series of novels featuring Bangkok P.I. Vincent Calvino.
http://www.deanbarrettthailand.com/welcome_to.htm
http://www.cgmoore.com/