How can we be sure old books were ever read? – University of Glasgow Library

How can we be sure old books were ever read? – University of Glasgow Library

Owning a book isn’t the same as reading it; we need only look at our own bloated bookshelves for confirmation.

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Although this is surely a more common anxiety in a time of relatively cheap books and one-click online shopping we should be reassured that it’s nothing new: Seneca was vocal in criticising those using “books not as tools for study but as decorations for the dining-room”, and in his early 16th century sermons Johannes Geiler (reflecting on Sebastian Brant’s‘book fool’) identified a range of different types of folly connected with book ownership that included collecting books for the sake of glory, as if they were costly items of furniture¹. When we look at our own bookshelves we can fairly easily divide the contents into those we’ve read and those we haven’t. But when it comes to very old books which have survived for hundreds of years how easy is it to know whether a book was actually read by its past owners?²

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The Little Book of Design Research Ethics

The Little Book of Design Research Ethics

This one is about ethical practices in design research. It covers the principles that guide our interactions as we search for insight. It’s written for everyone at IDEO and for all the people we work with—those we learn from, and those we teach.

We’ve distilled lessons learned—as you’ll see, sometimes the hard way—from more than a quarter-century of experience and dozens of stories from the field. We’ve integrated advice and recommendations from external sources too from ethicists and from existing codes of ethics in related professions, such as journalism and market research.

The Pmarca Blog Archive Is Back… as an Ebook – Andreessen Horowitz

The Pmarca Blog Archive Is Back… as an Ebook – Andreessen Horowitz

Somewhere along the way Marc Andreessen went from being pmarca to @pmarca. He took down his popular blog, and years later took up tweetstorming. Which means you can keep up with his current thoughts on Twitter — and also catch up on them (in the form of tweets, podcasts, and op-eds) here.

But by popular request, you can now also download many of his older blog posts — The Pmarca Blog Archives — as an ebook, below. [And yes, we do get the irony of doing this!]

That said, here are some of our edit notes*: We removed all links (and text) that referenced resources that no longer exist or were otherwise outdated out of a live web context. We kept the original formatting (except to turn some subheads into headers) and did not do significant editing. And finally, while it pained us to not include other popular posts (like “Three kinds of platforms you meet on the Internet” or his views on Hollywood and movies and more), you can catch up on some of those posts as archived here, here, and here…

To download the free ebook — available in multiple formats for most e-readers — we’d appreciate your filling out the optional form.

ebook download

pick your format and then click ‘download’:.EPUB (for Nook, iBooks, Kobo etc.): http://bit.ly/pmarcablogebookepub
.MOBI (for Kindle): http://bit.ly/pmarcablogebookmobi
.PDF (for printing): http://bit.ly/pmarcablogebookpdf

Bookshelf | Literary Hub

Bookshelf | Literary Hub

In which bookshelves are installed at the New York Public Library

When the New York City Public Library opened on May 23, 1911, the building spanned over two city blocks and boasted one of the most impressive collections of books—and bookshelves—in the world. “ It is impossible to think of New York without the New York Public Library, ” notes Henry Hope Reed, during the centennial celebrations of the library. “[Its] presence is that of some great natural fact. It would appear to have always been there.”

During its initial construction, the newspaper media talked up the library’s bookshelves something fierce. Since the library was to hold over three million volumes, shelving and storing a collection of that size was no small undertaking. In 1905, initial schematics of the library ’ s bookshelves were published in the New York Times and Scientific American; articles claimed that the library had a set of bookshelves constructed on a practically unheard-of scale, unlike any other shelves in any other library built before it. On October 1, 1905, the Times practically fell over itself, gushing with enthusiasm:

The skeleton of a bookcase that will hold 3,500,000 volumes — without exception the largest bookcase in the world — that is what one may see to-day back of the great central hall of the majestic marble structure that is slowly rising in Bryant Park.

It is just completed, this marvelous network of steel bars and uprights, and exemplifies the very latest methods and appliances for the shelving of books. There is nothing like it in the great libraries of the Old World . . . In the Congressional Library . . . the modern steel bookcase is in use, but not in the solid, impressive mass, distinguishing it over all others, that is shown in the New York Public Library . . . Above it will be placed the spacious reading room of the library, on either side the various halls, offices, and exhibition rooms. Thus surrounded, this monster bookcase becomes, architecturally, the heart of the whole structure, the treasure for whose protection this marble palace is built. Even now, with this maze of steel laid bare, it is difficult to appreciate its immense capacity for the shelving of books. A bookcase holding three and a half million volumes means a series of shelves that if laid together, end to end, would measure over eighty miles.

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Bookshelf (Object Lessons) by Lydia Pyne – Google Books

Bookshelf – Lydia Pyne – Google Books

History tells us that we put books on a shelf. Cicero and his library suggest, however, that books don’t go on just any shelf; books ought to be shelved on a proper bookshelf.

What makes a bookshelf a bookshelf is not a given thing; every bookshelf has its own unique life history; every bookshelf speaks to its own cultural context. Bookshelves are dynamic, iterative objects that cue us to the social values we place on books and how we think books ought to be read. What makes a bookshelf a bookshelf are the recurring decisions made about its structure, architecture, and function.

Linotype: The Film — “History of the Linotype Company” Hardcover Book

Linotype: The Film — “History of the Linotype Company” Hardcover Book

Written by film participant Frank Romano, this is THE definitive history of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. In fact, we wish this book had been published when we were making the film! If you are curious about the Linotype or the Linotype Company, this will become your ultimate reference.

The book contains 464 pages of in-depth history of the people, places, and products manufactured by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. Frank Romano traces the history of corporate acquisitions, product development, and competing machines all with his usual wit and experience. He also writes about his own personal history working at Linotype starting in 1959. There are hundreds of color reproductions of advertisements, publications, photographs, and typeface specimens. It also includes 120 pages listing every font manufactured by Linotype or its subsidiaries.

Bookling – Track Your Reading Habits — Mister Bumbles Interactive

Bookling – Track Your Reading Habits — Mister Bumbles Interactive

Introducing Bookling, a mobile app which helps you keep track of your reading habits and motivates you to read more. Bookling lets you bookmark multiple books, track your progress, setup reminders and help you achieve your reading goals.