Bookworm

I've read all of the books I brought with me, about a dozen, so yesterday evening, I wandered into the Kyobo bookstore, which I've been told is one of the largest bookstores in Seoul and certainly has the largest selection of English-language books in the city. I was pretty impressed, as they had a wide array of both recent, popular works and "classic" literature in English, as well as a good-sized nonfiction collection. I settled on "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. I've never read it and want to see what the hype is about. Plus, the 1000 pages should hold me for a while.

One thing of note--I was amazed at how many textbooks were for sale. There were shelves and shelves of American economics, chemistry and phsyics textbooks. There were even two shelves of law casebooks (attention Section 6-ers: without too much effort I found both Dukminier and Kadish--they were just as expensive as at the Coop). I don't know if these were for local university classes or to help students prepare for study in the U.S. I have heard many people here both support and lament the Korean "obsession" with brand-name education in American Universities and the study of English. A friend of mine who teaches at a hagwon (private language schools--think Kaplan on steroids--which abound in Seoul) says that she receives tremendous deference because she went to Yale, and that after Ivy-League schools, the most prestigious institutions are U.S. State universities, because they have names people recognize. Thus, a degree from the University of Iowa, for example, is more prestigious than one from Amherst college.

On a lighter note, when I walked home from the bookstore I passed a new wine shop that opened recently. The shop's full name is Story of Wine, although it goes by this name for short (look in the lower right hand corner after you click the link). I guess the owners didn't go to one of the hagwons.