"Oh, honey, look," declared a woman. "This is that book Laura's been talking about. Things Not To Eat."
The woman, in a too-short skirt that would have looked appropriate on Pebbles of Flintstones fame, sat in a chair loudly monologing to her bald and too-thin boyfriend who had just walked up. Oblivious to how sad she was -- or maybe thinking she was participating in an 'intelligent conversation,' she babbled away about how you shouldn't eat a Chick-fil-A or CiCi's Pizza.
The whole thing was rather sad. That she needed a book to tell her fried and fast foods were fattening. That she had discussed the 'book' with a friend. That, in a huge bookstore, this was the only book of interest she could find.
It was a Wednesday night and she'd been sitting in a chair at the Borders Bookstore on Post Street in San Francisco for over an hour, flipping pages. Her boyfriend held four books in his hands as she babbled on. Aware that her loudly shared 'wisdom's ("salt is really bad for you") were attracting attention from people (not just us), he asked her if she wanted to buy the book.
"No. I told you, Laura and I've talked about it. Besides, why waste money on a book?"
He hurried her off as everyone in that section of the bookstore shook their heads.
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This was written by Dona, Ty, Jess, Jim and Betty based on our visit to the bookstore Wednesday night to pick up how-to finance books readers were noting in e-mails (and they are addressed in another feature this week).