Whether you're watching someone on cable news or participating in your own work conference call, we're all seeing a lot more of strangers' living rooms thanks to the coronavirus pandemic relegating people to work remotely en masse.
More often than not, the background behind a person in the call contains a bookcase. Ken Gloss of Brattle Book Shop told Boston Public Radio they can help you look like a scholar, and make a good impression for that job interview.
"It's basically the first impression," said Gloss. "It's amazing when you walk into somebody's house, whether it's an estate or they're moving ... you look at their books you can tell their politics, you can tell their religion, you can tell what their interests and hobbies are, you can tell if they're really scholarly or if the books are a facade."
So Gloss and his store managers set up a service riffing on their existing personal or professional decorative services, using their vast collection of antiquarian books.
In addition to keeping Brattle Book Shop viable while they are closed to in-person shopping, Gloss said he hopes the service will build community.
"Maybe some of these people will come in after this is all done, or maybe in a few weeks, and become good customers and introduce themselves," he said. "And it gives us a chance to talk about books."
Ken Gloss is the proprietor of The Brattle Book Shop, one of America's oldest book stores. He also appraises books.
