“A filled bookcase is the ultimate reflection of the identity of the owner.”

[theeye]

And, apparently, some people think that this is the perfect reflection.

[theworm[$]]

Yuck

[Redlass]

Ick.

But how strange: The flaps push inward, not outward. So how would you get your books out? Or how would you use the "camoflage" while your books were in them. It seems impractical as well as silly.

[soxfan[$]]

Doesn't seem too practical to me either. Besides, my friends wouldn't buy it -- it'd be too many classics, not enough baseball and goofy sci-fi/fantasy.

[murasaki]

I don't think I would ever feel the need to fake what I read. I do make conscious choices about which books go in the more public rooms in the house--paperbacks, for instance, rarely make the living room shelves because the spines of hardcovers with dust jackets are usually so much prettier (and also because we have paperbacks in quadruple rows on their shelves just so we can fit them all). But the best sellers and the sci-fi books are right out there with the classics.

What I think this bookshelf really says is that someone is ashamed of their literary tastes and wants to seem more intellectual than they are.

[drmomentum[$]]

Blech. Unsightly.

I guess it's art or something.

[lynnzop[$]]

Stoopid.

[rmthunter]

The Books and Manuscripts Department at Sotheby's (and, I would assume other auction houses) was willing to take two kinds of books for auction: important works in early or significant editions (a folio Shakespeare, for example), which can bring remarkable prices, or sets of books with matched bindings in good condition, which do not have a high value but are easy to sell.

Draw your own conclusions.

Bob

[pippadaisy[$]]

I actually kind of liked the clean look instead of my piles all over the place.

[emeleel]

I think it would look better if it weren't so stark with such blank-looking fake books.

I also *think*, not sure but I think, that the hinged covers are not intended to go over your real books. It looks like they're supposed to look exactly like they do in the picture. Which, if you only have a few books to put in it, might look kind of artsy like the photo. But if you're like us, the entire case would be filled, all the flaps would be pushed up, and what would be the point of getting the thing in the first place?