Books Beyond Borders

Megan McArdle, The Atlantic: "At least Barnes and Noble should be happy; this erases their biggest competition for bricks-and-mortar pure brick retailing. But looking to the future, they too have to be nervous. All that real estate is expensive, and their margins are under pressure from Wal-Mart on the bricks-and-mortar side, and Amazon on the web. One wonders if the Nook can really make up for those competitive disadvantages."