The Internet is nothing if not full of lists, and websites full of headlines touting lists. Some are frivolous, some misleading, some strange and some just plain wonderful. The science behind them is often threadbare, if there's any methodology at all.

But when the Brits at The Guardian newspaper decide to make a list of the best independent bookstores on the planet, and when they decide Portland's Powell's City of Books is at the tip of the top, we're not going to ask questions about pesky things like methodology. We're just going to enjoy the moment while we smugly think to our Portland selves, "Of course Powell's is the best thing since the Great Library of Alexandria. Everybody knows that."

From The Guardian:

"This legendary Portland shop is the world's largest used book store - the jewel in the crown of what is claimed to be the largest independent chain of bookstores on the planet. Powell's even provides a map for customers. 'It is amazing! It is a whole city block with several floors of books. Unlike ordinary bookstores, Powell's has a huge selection of every book imaginable. I took my retired English teacher father there and he went crazy. It also has a cafe and a selection of antique computers. It is an absolute paradise for bibliophiles!' said John R. Ewing Jr."

The only other U.S. bookstores to make The Guardian's top 10 were City Lights in San Francisco, the Strand in New York and Minneapolis-based Wild Rumpus.

-- The Oregonian/Oregonlive