My wife has been watching makeover-but-for-your-home shows lately and we both agree that they promote far too much "here is a huge bookshelf with thousands of books packed wrong".
These people, lovely warm creative passionate people, don't seem to know what it is that people do with books. They think they're just decorative, they're statement pieces that tell visitors that you are intelligent and informed and probably know lots of big words.
Only, the way they stack those shelves rather spoils the illusion. Because if you ever intend to actually read a book from your collection, you'll want some way of actually finding it. If you've got thousands of books, like how they decorate these homes, you need a system.
Stack them alphabetically. Group them by author. By topic. Use the Dewey decimal system. Sort them chronologically. It doesn't matter, so long as it works for you.
There are only two wrong systems:
Sorting by colour (unless you're looking for Fighting Fantasy game books, which classically all had bright green spines) does not provide any clues to where a book might be because the printers colour choices are generally purely aesthetic.
And the other is putting them backwards so that you get a nice neat uniform minimalist look, with no messy words to distract from the designer's beautiful vision.
You have to choose what's more important between form and function. If it's all about form, then why not ditch the printed volumes and buy fake books, the ones made from a moulded piece of plastic that looks like the spines of old books. You can make the shelves 5cm thick, pack the fake books flat against the wall and save valuable floor space. I won't judge if you do, not everybody likes to read books, it is fine!
But if you do actually like books, for what they are and not just for the comforting way they look in your home, then you're going to need a system that doesn't actively stop you from reading.
Allen Versfeld /
npub19u…6lxgg
2023-12-23 21:19:58
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npub19uzcgvyzrcxrrm2pr6l64jhyyedw4cdkfkns8dctuqvvsvnedr0sv6lxggPublished at
2023-12-23 21:19:58Event JSON
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"content": "My wife has been watching makeover-but-for-your-home shows lately and we both agree that they promote far too much \"here is a huge bookshelf with thousands of books packed wrong\".\n\nThese people, lovely warm creative passionate people, don't seem to know what it is that people do with books. They think they're just decorative, they're statement pieces that tell visitors that you are intelligent and informed and probably know lots of big words.\n\nOnly, the way they stack those shelves rather spoils the illusion. Because if you ever intend to actually read a book from your collection, you'll want some way of actually finding it. If you've got thousands of books, like how they decorate these homes, you need a system.\n\nStack them alphabetically. Group them by author. By topic. Use the Dewey decimal system. Sort them chronologically. It doesn't matter, so long as it works for you.\n\nThere are only two wrong systems: \n\nSorting by colour (unless you're looking for Fighting Fantasy game books, which classically all had bright green spines) does not provide any clues to where a book might be because the printers colour choices are generally purely aesthetic.\n\nAnd the other is putting them backwards so that you get a nice neat uniform minimalist look, with no messy words to distract from the designer's beautiful vision.\n\nYou have to choose what's more important between form and function. If it's all about form, then why not ditch the printed volumes and buy fake books, the ones made from a moulded piece of plastic that looks like the spines of old books. You can make the shelves 5cm thick, pack the fake books flat against the wall and save valuable floor space. I won't judge if you do, not everybody likes to read books, it is fine!\n\nBut if you do actually like books, for what they are and not just for the comforting way they look in your home, then you're going to need a system that doesn't actively stop you from reading.",
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