This book is well-written and interesting...if you want to open an independent bookstore or other retail space. I did not find the first 4 chapters to be difficult at all - not a slog, fairly interesting - but after that point, I felt I could give the VA Festival of the Book Program Director the information she needed to decide whether or not to invite the author to the festival. Any slight inclination I may ever have had to open a bookstore (which have never been serious dreams, by the way) would have been squashed by this book, which makes it extremely evident that you must be insane, wealthy, and tirelessly devoted to your job to make a success of an independent retail business. I am none of those things. If you seriously want to open a bookstore or other retail store, though, I'd encourage you to spend some quality time with this book.