When I lived in Bangkok, these were the two biggest English bookstore chains. I think Asia Books is the very first bookstore in Thailand that carried books predominately in English. Kinokuniya is a Japanese chain that appeared in Thailand in the 2000s. They carry a tremendous selection of books in English, along with books in Japanese and possibly a small Thai section.
Back in 2000, when I first arrived in Bangkok, this was the pre-smartphone age. Whatever reading I was doing was on websites I was surfing, and books I was purchasing or browsing while at bookstores. Nowadays, I barely go into bookstores. While I lived in Thailand for X amount of years, I would have to say, bookstores - in particular, these chains - were a big part of my life. I was looking for travel books, and I was curious about books on philosophy and social science. I would look for titles in biography, history and even photography. Although I would buy books on occasion, I would browse quite a bit. Kade would be elsewhere, and we would meet up later. One thing about shopping in Bangkok is that when you walk into certain stores, like bookstores, there's a security guard at the door. And if you are carrying a bag (from another store), you have to check it at the counter. You get a number for a cubbyhole. I always liked checking my bags this way because it freed up my hands. For them, I am sure it was a way to prevent shoplifting. I wandered around the bookstores, and I enjoyed it so much. I think back to one of my first stops in an Asia. It was at the World Trade Center, now known as Central World. There was an employee named Rung that was trying to put a book on an upper shelf. I offered to help! We chatted for a bit, and the next thing I know we were making plans to see a movie. She was going to invite her girlfriend Tiger. So there's an Asia Books memory!
What surprised me the most was just how extensive the selection of the books was in these Bangkok bookstores. I could get all the popular books that you would see in any bookstore back in the USA, plus there were titles I don't think I ever would have seen - certainly ones on Thai and Asian history. There were philosophy titles and books on atheism that would not even make it to the shelves back in Alabama, where I was from. I have to say - and I say this humbly - that I had more of intellectual awakening while traveling. I was certainly more curious, and with it there was this insatiable appetite for reading. I was absorbing books, and I was reading materials online. It was an amazing time. I do think there's something also to being in my late twenties and having a bit of life experience, combined with the fully wiring up of my brain. There's science to the latter. I will try to start listing some of the books I read while in Thailand. Most of them, I'm sure, I purchased in Asia Books and Kinokuniya. There were some other bookstores in Bangkok - new and used. Click here if you want to learn about second-hand books. The Asia Books stores I frequented the most were at Emporium, Central World and Central Pinklao. And if I remember correctly, I think there were some small Asia Books shops in Siam Square and along Sukhumvit. The Kinokuniya ones I like are in Central World, Emporium and Siam Paragon.
Reasons to Believe, Marks
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Carnegie
The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene
Against Happiness
China Wakes
Fresh Air Fiend, Thereux
A Pirate Looks at 50, Jimmy Buffet
The Gift of Fear, de Becker
Fast Food Nation
No Logo
Patpong Sisters
Introducing Chomsky
Perpetual War/Perpetual Peace, Vidal
Flow
Blogging for Dummies
Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman
The Education of Henry Adams
Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Death of Ivan Illyich, Tolstoy
1984, Orwell
Socrates' Way
Why I Am Not a Christian, Russell
Intimacy, Osho
The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand
Krishnamurti: On Fear
How to be Idle
Demon Haunted World, Sagan
Man Against Himself
The Private Life of Chairman Mao
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