With a move to a new but yet undisclosed location coming up later this year, I am entertaining options for my next life chapter. Looking back at my intellectual and professional journey over the past two decades, and taking into account the state of the world today, I concluded that I want to start something of my own. Could a bookshop be the answer?

My idea pays heed to my love of–but unfortunately limited dedication to–books. I read about 15-20 per year, which makes me an average reader. I suffer from long periods of reading blockade–often work-induced–interspersed with short bursts of heightened book consumption. A more structured and deliberate way of dealing with reading would be ideal.

So without having read the world myself, I would like to curate my own little bookshop as an aspirational reading list for myself, and of course, read as many of them in the process as possible. I would also like to read around books that had a profound influence on myself–to better contextualize already attained knowledge, and to broaden my horizons.

The human element is equally if not more important. I would love to have a space to discuss ideas and get more input. This naturally happens in a bookshop setting, but I’d also like to expand on this by way of convening regular seminars and talks about recent publications.

The focus must be sufficiently narrow, so a social science angle (I am thinking particularly economics, political economy, current affairs and urban studies) would fit me best. When I look back, I enjoyed projects involving books the most, and they take up a significant space on this blog.

Writing an annotated bibliography for OUP on Tokyo was also a beautiful way to structure knowledge and present it appealingly and digestibly. It was probably equally fun to write than my more research-heavy journal articles.

Why a bookshop now?

• New ways of working, I am thinking AI in particular, can kill depth in research and increasingly flatten thinking patterns: We need to refocus our minds and retrain our attention. Physical spaces and objects are probably the best strategies to regain ownership of our neurological pathways.
• Our future might be more analogue (or “low-skilled”) than we think, and it’s time to embrace this: With lots of the work that I have been involved in in the past on the verge of being automated at entry levels and increasingly also above, work will (hopefully) transition toward a more human connection and exchange based style. A bookshop is a great springboard from which to reacquaint myself with the “real world” and leave the computer screen behind, at least for regular patches.
• It will be easier to articulate and stand for political positions, to have a voice, and to be heard in such a forum. I feel sad sometimes that although age has given me more radical political and social beliefs, it hasn’t given me the chance to stand for them and defend them. I don’t want to open an activist bookshop. But opening a bookshop is per se activist, if that makes any sense.
• A bookshop is not a goldmine. But it might be an intellectual treasure trove. If in 2-3 years it might have proved a labor of love but ultimately unsustainable. However, that journey of realization in itself will have opened up a few doors.
• Upping the book consumption and increasing the intensity of engagement is likely going to spark new ideas for blog posts and other forms of content production–something I have learned is the best way to keep staying in touch with the world at large.

So how might that shop look like?

• Depending a bit on which place I end up in (more on that soon, I hope), I can imagine a bilingual or trilingual bookshop with some German language books as well. These would generally not mirror the English books in stock but explore distinct Germany related topics with books originally published in German.
• Owing to the small size of the shop, I intend to run with 300-500 titles initially. I aim to sort them into “threads” of 5-10 books — almost like “reading lists” for an essay or a new framework someone is keen on exploring.
• I’d like to organize and convene regular talks–perhaps once a week, with some interesting speakers either remotely or in person. Seating for 20-30 people, some wine and cheese… congenial.
• Obviously, my shop’s and my own personal branding are paramount: This shop will be a space to have a conversation with me, do some deep thinking, broaden one’s horizons, and come back for more of the same.
• Whether or not that will be enough to break even financially is a whole different story that I might explore here on the blog, too. But the idea is to continue consulting and working for clients with the bookshop being my intellectual base, equipped with a comfortable desk and more time now that the kids are getting a little older and more occupied.
• I’ll make an exception for AI use on the business side of things, but will try to keep the conceptual and curatorial part of the venture AI-free.

As this idea matures, I will use my blog to explore some thematic book sets, or “threads” for lack of a better word. As I have already covered a lot of ground over the years, these threads will surely include “emergent urbanism” (Jorge’s book, and Matias and Rahul’s new book, as representative examples), inequality (Ingrid Robeyns’ book, Thomas Piketty’s Capital or a relevant updated text), and many other topics close to my heart.