Are bookshelves becoming obsolete?

Bookshelves are certainly not going to become obsolete at my house. For one thing, I have tons of books that are not likely to become available on Kindle, ever, and besides, why would I want to buy them for Kindle if I already have them?

Besides, I like physical books better. Right now, I'm buying a lot of books for my Kindle, but they're mostly older books, otherwise unavailable unless I was lucky enough to find them at a used book store, and they're very inexpensive, thus I can afford more books (plus, unlike the used books, supposing I found them, and unless they're very old, the author gets a royalty). Still, for certain books I'd go for the print edition even if it was significantly more expensive.
 
Yes, anyone whose bookshelves become obsolete should feel free to send them to me -- I still have far too many boxes of books with no shelves, and shelves layered three rows deep with books piled sideways on top.
 
I solved this issue by making the boxes into shelving. Most efficient. Makes for speedy book packing too.
 
I have done that -- would do, now, if the boxes in question weren't so blasted big. They aren't actually boxes that I can move, when we do move, because they are way too heavy to lift. They're more like sideways, stackable closets.

When we move, we'll have to repack them into liquor store boxes, which are the handiest I've found because they can still be lifted when they're full. Or when the lifter is full of the alcohol, for that matter.
 
Hmm. Not tried that kind. I currently have roughly 50 5lb paper boxes I've collected from work over the years. When closed they have handels, when open they have a top shelf into which another box my be seated.
 
And coffee tables too?


Any Atlas or photo book is a work of art that cannot be fully appreciated as such on a computer screen
 
I have book cases in every room in the house - that includes the bathrooms. One of the staircases in the house is narrower than legal because I used the treads at one side as the supports for one end of a triangular bookcase which occupies the otherwise unusable wall next to it.

I have one bookshelf that is made of books - I realised the gap between one bookshelf and a wall was about the same width as a large hardback lying on its side. So I stacked a pile of hardbacks thus:
_
I I
_
I I
_
I I
​

and filled the gaps with smaller paperbacks. I just hope I really don't decide to read the biography of Cecil B deMille that's at the bottom in a hurry.

Physical books are wonderful things. First thing I do when visiting someone is read their bookshelves. Tells me a hell of a lot about a person/family. And when you read something that is so awful/stupid it makes you want to throw the book at the wall - you can. Hurling a badly written piece of self-published tripe across the room is a very satisfying experience. Throwing Kindles is going to get expensive real fast.
 
I bought more physical books than ebooks in the last year. Not obsolete for me.
 
Same here.

I like the idea of e-books, but between work and home I'm already spending too much time in front of lighted screens, and want something that isn't shining in my face for that drift-off-to-sleep read. Accordingly, bookshelves will always be necessary in my home. ;)
 
I have two large book cases full and illicitly double stacked full of HB books with another set of shelfs that Hang from the ceiling along two walls of one room full of the TP books; and a rubber three drawer cabinet with overflow of the TP. When I suggested I might need to by a third floor to ceiling shelf I got this look that could burn trees in the next county.

Buy a kindle save a tree. I know it saved my life and I am not nearly as annoyed reading from it as I'd expected. It also is good for keeping notes for reviews. I would be annoyed if I had to start highlighting my paper books.
 
My bookcases are NOT going anywhere. There is something very comforting about reading a physical book, especially at bedtime.

Having said that, I am thinking of getting an e-reader so if I have to pack up to move abroad in the near future (and that is certainly very probably), I can populate it with e-copies of my books and the physical books can be donated to the local schools for the kids to read. Plus, I can rebuild my library when I get to where I'm going - it'll be cheaper than paying freight for all the physical books I have now.
 
No-one seems to have told IKEA - they sold 41 million Billy bookcases last year. Or to put it another way, one in every twelve people that went into an IKEA store bought one...

IKEA Statistics
 
Grimward said:
Same here.

I like the idea of e-books, but between work and home I'm already spending too much time in front of lighted screens, and want something that isn't shining in my face for that drift-off-to-sleep read. Accordingly, bookshelves will always be necessary in my home. ;)
Click to expand...

e-ink, a whole lot nicer than LCD, no flicker; and I need a bedside light; no backlight in my Kindle. Not quite as nice to read in bed as a small paperback, but better than one of the great big doorstop paperbacks that are hanging around nowadays, or even than most hardcovers.

The_Bluestocking said:
My bookcases are NOT going anywhere. There is something very comforting about reading a physical book, especially at bedtime.

Having said that, I am thinking of getting an e-reader so if I have to pack up to move abroad in the near future (and that is certainly very probably), I can populate it with e-copies of my books and the physical books can be donated to the local schools for the kids to read. Plus, I can rebuild my library when I get to where I'm going - it'll be cheaper than paying freight for all the physical books I have now.
Click to expand...

I sympathise; Books took up more space than anything else in my last year's international move (if I hadn't brought a PA system it would have been more than everything else); some had to go, and I mourn. Be warned: come the moment

But I do not see my bookshelves going obsolete in my lifetime, despite my recent flirtation with the e-Book; too habituated, and a lot of my books are too unimportant to ever be reissued.

To the world, that is, not to me.
 
pyan said:
No-one seems to have told IKEA - they sold 41 million Billy bookcases last year. Or to put it another way, one in every twelve people that went into an IKEA store bought one...

IKEA Statistics
Click to expand...

Reminds me that in a near-miss reversal I almost made a book from a bookcase the other week. I was binding a whole run of a magazine into a hardback. The magazine was large and I couldn't find any card large enough to make the end boards so nearly used the hardboard backing of an old Billy bookcase. I found some real stiff board in the end. It may still happen though.
 
One in every twelve, that's not so good.
If one in every twelve Mcdonalds customers bought French fries they'd go out of business in a week. At least that's the impression you get because they keep asking, 'do you want fries with that?'

Maybe that's the key they keep asking their customers, 'do you want a bookcase with that?'

pyan said:
No-one seems to have told IKEA - they sold 41 million Billy bookcases last year. Or to put it another way, one in every twelve people that went into an IKEA store bought one...

IKEA Statistics
Click to expand...
 
chrispenycate said:
I sympathise; Books took up more space than anything else in my last year's international move (if I hadn't brought a PA system it would have been more than everything else); some had to go, and I mourn. Be warned: come the moment
Click to expand...

Indeed. I had to do it once - left 3 boxes of my beloved books (sitting in a old friend's attic) that moved to England with me but could not make the return trip when I moved to Malaysia due to freight charges that make it illogical to even think of shipping them back.

So I am more than ready to spend $$$ to load up an e-reader or tablet with all my favourites, donate the books to the schools, then re-build my library when I move away. At least the content of those books will be tucked away in the e-reader/tablet until I can rebuild the physical collection.

And yes - get new bookshelves.

Still, it's at least a couple of years away, so I'll enjoy my bookshelves bulging with books in the meantime :)
 
I like books and bookshelves as wall art as well as the functionality. Most of mine are interesting paperback spines, with a scattering of the older type of hardbacks in the light and dark blue, or blue and maroon look (lost their dustjackets).
And as an aside - aren't the stately home bookshelves gorgeous
a) in themselves (carved mahogany for example)
b) for all the custom bound books with the identical binding. (Incidentally a form of paperbacks were originally published for that market where people put their own hard back cover on so it would all match).

Other than that as others have said - yep, no technology obsolescence, wouldn't buy an eBook copy of an existing paperback and I have physical copies that have travelled with me for a long time. I also have books that belonged to my parents and my grandparents.

I need more bookshelves......
I need more walls........ (It is a trade off between hanging pictures and putting up another bookshelf).
I need a bigger house....
 
:D to both of you.

I think I want to magically gain carpentry skills and modify all the furniture - especially sofas - and put drawers under the seats (no dirty jokes please...:) ) that open at the front which will take all the DVDs and then that will gain me ooh, several shelves for books. That should gain a year or two...

After that I think I need one of those houses in Grand Designs with the basement extension and technology where I press a button and a library stack type shelf rises hydraulically through the floor. Or just a Grand Designs type house.....
 
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