Visit two-dozen indie bookshops during the inaugural Philly Bookstore Crawl

Books are a format to deliver big ideas in tiny packages over long periods of time.

Fast-evolving technology and entrepreneurial norms adapt well to web publishing — social media messages and short-form video, essays and blog posts. Yet enough truths last long enough, and professionals spend enough, that business and industry books still fill many bookshelves. Science fiction also captures the imagination of future makers.

This Saturday, explore Philadelphia’s indie bookshops while picking up books from local authors at the inaugural Philly Bookstore Crawl, organized by Eric Smith, an author and lit agent, Very Online Person, one-time Technical.ly collaborator and, well, uh, kinda a bud of mine. Longtime listeners may remember him from his blog Geekadelphia and the Philly Geek Awards, on which Technical.ly partnered.

Two dozen bookstores are participating, including Callowhill’s Iffy Books, a home for “old school hackers“; Germantown’s Uncle Bobbie’s, founded by political commentator Marc Lamont Hill; and two Fishtown stops: Harriet’s Bookshop, founded by Jeannine Cook, and H&H Books, founded by circular economy entrepreneur Nic Esposito. Start anywhere, go to as many or as few as you please. Many have programming or specials. It’s less of a pure crawl than a celebration of local authorship led by one of the region’s nerdiest and most enthusiastic literary champions.

Full list of participating bookstores:

• A Novel Idea, 1726 E. Passyunk Ave.
• Big Blue Marble, 551 Carpenter Lane
• Bindlestiff, 4530 Baltimore Ave.
• Booked, 8511 Germantown Ave.
• The Book Trader, 7 N. Second St.
• Children’s Book World, 17 Haverford Station Road, Haverford
• Du Bois-Robeson People’s Center, 4515 Baltimore Ave., Haverford
• Giovanni’s Room, 345 S. 12th St.
• Harriett’s Bookshop, 258 E. Girard Ave.
• Healing While Black, 4111 Lancaster Ave.
• H&H Books, 2230 Frankford Ave.
• Headhouse Books, 619 S. Second St.
• Hilltop Books, 84 Bethlehem Pike Rear
• Iffy Books, 319 N. 11th St. Room 21
• The Last Word Bookshop, 220 S. 40th St.
• Main Point Books, 116 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne
• Making Worlds, 210 S. 45th St.
• Miscellanea Libri, 454 E. Girard Ave.
• Molly’s Books & Records, 1010 S. Ninth St.
• Mostly Books, 529 Bainbridge St.
• Neighborhood Books, 1906 South St.
• Partners & Son, 618 S. Sixth St.
• The Spiral Bookcase, 4257 Main St.
• Wooden Shoe Books, 704 South St.
• Uncle Bobbie’s, 5445 Germantown Ave.

Need a few tech-friendly books from local authors to look out for? Consider crypto king-focused “SBF” by Brady Dale (a Technical.ly alumnus); poet Athena Dixon whose latest compilation “The Loneliness Files” explores a hyperconnected world; “The Woman Who Smashed Codes” by Jason Fagone; kid-friendly science fiction from Farah Naz Rishi and Brittney Morris; and dystopian-novel “Ink” by Sabrina Vourvoulias, a journalist and another Technical.ly alumnus.