MORE ABOUT THE BOOK WORKS

Store Profile

Established in 1976, The Book Works is an independently owned and operated bookstore that specializes in literary fiction and nonfiction, science, architecture and design, cooking, gardening, and children's books. The Book Works is adjacent to the Pannikin Coffeehouse (another independently-owned and locally cherished institution), with an open wall connecting the two businesses. Our symbiotic relationship with the coffeehouse allows us to double our available space during events, so that we can accommodate up to 200 people for author readings, and many more for booksignings. Our staff is highly knowledgeable and dedicated to both the store and its customers. In addition, the "sexy, smart Book Works employees" were collectively named one of the three sexiest features of Del Mar by San Diego Magazine (May 2007).

The Book Works is located in an upscale mall (The Flower Hill Promenade, http://www.flowerhill.com/) that is immediately off of the Interstate 5 Freeway in San Diego (approximately 100 miles from Los Angeles). This location assures easy accessibility from all over the county and ample parking.

Clientele

The Book Works serves loyal, longtime customers who live throughout coastal San Diego, particularly from the affluent communities of Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe. Our clientele is internationally sophisticated and highly educated, in part due to the large academic and research communities that are located nearby (e.g., The University of California, San Diego, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Institute of Oceanography, The Neurosciences Institute).

Author visits

The Book Works has hosted a long list of prominent authors from other disciplines, including cooking (Julie Child, Jacques Pepin, Alice Waters), current events (Paul Krugman, Simon Winchester, Chalmers Johnson, Peter Irons), and literature (Khaled Hosseini, Amy Tan, Lisa See [an off-site event] Luis Alberto Urrea, Indu Sundaresan, Jincey Willett, Lisa Fugard). For these events we often accommodated hundreds of people and sold hundreds of books.

Science Series

The Book Works also has a long history of hosting eminent scientists. Previous author visits have included Francis Crick, winner of the Nobel Prize (The Astonishing Hypothesis); Antonio Damasio (Descartes Error, Looking for Spinoza); and Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat; Awakenings).

In 2006, Lisa Stefanacci purchased The Book Works and formalized the scientific author visits by developing a Mind-Brain Series. Dr. Stefanacci has a Ph.D. in neurobiology and has held positions at UCSD and The Salk Institute. Her expertise in this area, combined with her acquaintances with well-known scientists and their work from all over the world, has brought these events to a new level, with larger attendance and more frequent author visits, all of the highest quality.

In November of 2006, Eric Kandel, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000, spoke on his memoir, In Search of Memory. Other visitors in 2006 included Helen Fisher (Why We Love), Dr. V.S. Ramachandran (Brief Tour of Human Consciousness), Terrence Sejnowski (Liars, Lovers, and Heroes), and Matt Ridley (Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code). The 2007 Mind-Brain series includes David Linden (3/07, The Accidental Mind), Freeman Dyson, an internationally reknowned physicist, member of the National Academy of Science and Fellow of the Royal Society of London (7/07, Scientist as Rebel), Oliver Sacks (invited for fall 2007, Musicophila: Tales of Music and the Brain), and V.S. Ramachandran (invited for fall 2007, The Man with the Phantom Twin).

The response to the Mind-Brain Series has been overwhelming. There is a large, first-rate neuroscience community in San Diego, one which might only be rivaled by Boston, and a correspondent enthusiastic community. Our educated clientele actively look forward to our science events. In turn, the authors consistently comment on the level of participation,  the size, and the sophistication of the audience.

Media contacts

The Book Works has excellent contacts with local media and we arrange interviews for our authors in The San Diego Union-Tribune and in community papers including The North County Times, The Reader, San Diego CityBeat and The Del Mar Times.  We coordinate author appearances on the local PBS talk radio, These Days, with host Tom Fudge, and we arrange appearances on local television stations such as KFMB-Channel 8 and KUSI-Channel 9. In addition, The Book Works maintains an active website and sends monthly newsletters to customers.

Store and community activities

In addition to hosting author appearances, the store organizes and hosts live music every Friday night (a 25-year tradition); we sponsor five book groups (fiction and nonfiction) in the store and host many other private book groups; we host 2-4 writing workshops per month, storytime for children, seasonal book review events, and community events such as fundraising nights for local schools. We are also developing a relationship with the local public libraries so that we can exchange information, advertise for each other, and co-host special events.