Guest Blogger: Alex Johnson

Where do you put your books?

In the last 10 years we have lived through a revolution in the way we store our knowledge. But while we can now browse an entire personal library on an electronic device the size of a paperback, there has been a burst of creativity in bookcase design. Bookshelves today are modern art, engineering experiments and, of course, status symbols. And this is the subject of my new book, Bookshelf (Thames & Hudson, £14.95) which is inspired by the blog of the same name, a pictorial guide to the world's most intriguing bookshelves, bookcases and things that look like them.

Bookcases and bookshelves - whether they are shaped like Mexican deities, made of elastic or hold books upside down (all of which can be found in the Bookshelf book) – provide a welcoming habitat. Alberto Manguel’s portrayal of reading at home in The Library at Night (2007) is one of the most evocative descriptions of how a collection of books becomes more than a pile of papers, how even the very smell of his wooden shelves relaxes him, provides him with an emotional sanctuary. Or to put it another way, e-reading is all very well, but wouldn't you rather keep your Proust in a bookcase shaped like a polar bear?

So please do take a brief video tour of the book below. Especially if you like the idea of a circular bookshelf in your sitting room.

Comments

[Ray]

Give your books away! Spread the love. You're just fetishising the object, but it's the content that counts. They are just collecting dust and waiting for a spark to burn your house down!