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From: Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [Meta] Wait, you sort your books how???
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2024 21:22:32 -0400
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On 7/18/2024 12:58 PM, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Jul 2024 19:06:51 -0400, Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> On 7/17/2024 2:30 PM, Chris Buckley wrote:
>>> On 2024-07-17, BillGill <tonisdad215@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On 7/16/2024 5:15 PM, Ahasuerus wrote:
>>>>> On 7/16/2024 9:19 AM, BillGill wrote:
>>>>>> On 7/15/2024 12:25 PM, Ahasuerus wrote:
>>>>>>> On 7/15/2024 9:48 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>>>>>>> In article <v738di$n4rq$1@dont-email.me>,
>>>>>>>> Tony Nance  <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> More signs of madness in this crazy world:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I just ran across the results of a poll that asked 29,000 Americans
>>>>>>>>> about their book-owning habits, and friends, I am shocked — shocked! —
>>>>>>>>> to report that there are people who have absolutely no organizational
>>>>>>>>> system whatsoever. Worse — worse, I tell you — there are some who sort
>>>>>>>>> their books by color. Color!
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Here’s a link to the main source (published in October):
>>>>>>>>> https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/47712-how-many-books-americans-own-and-how-they-organize-them
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I could read the link, I suppose, but I wonder how many people actually
>>>>>>>> have a sufficient number of books such that they need to be organized.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As a general observation, the viability of various organizational
>>>>>>> systems depends on the number of books to be organized. What works
>>>>>>> reasonably well for a few hundred books -- e.g. sorting by the
>>>>>>> author's last name -- may be problematic for a collection with a few
>>>>>>> thousand books and completely unworkable for a collection that
>>>>>>> contains tens of thousands of books.
>>>>>> Have you checked your local library lately?  They do have
>>>>>> thousands of books.  They use a system that separates the
>>>>>> books by class, first fiction and non-fiction.  Then
>>>>>> they separate the non-fiction according to the Dewey Decimal
>>>>>> Code.  The Fiction is separated into a number of sub
>>>>>> classifications, such as General Fiction, Mysteries,
>>>>>> Science Fiction, and of course Children's.  Then within
>>>>>> those categories they are sorted by the author's last
>>>>>> name.
>>>>>
>>>>> [snip]
>>>>>
>>>>> It's a viable system for certain types of use cases. Unfortunately, any
>>>>> system that sorts books "by the author's last name" comes with inherent
>>>>> limitations. Suppose you have N bookcases dedicated to authors whose
>>>>> last name starts with an "H". Everything is fine as long as your library
>>>>> is static or close to it. Then you discover that you absolutely love D.
>>>>> K. Holmberg (https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?200173) and/or Nathan
>>>>> Hystad (https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?249647) -- to pick two
>>>>> random prolific authors -- and suddenly you have a problem.
>>>>
>>>> I'm don't understand what the problem is.  Are you suggesting that
>>>> the books are packed in, so that there is no room to insert that
>>>> many more?  If that is the case all you have to do is to move
>>>> books on down the shelves to make room.  I have been known to do
>>>> that.  Or, best case, build new shelves and spread the existing
>>>> books out to make room.  I have been known to do that.
>>>
>>> "All you have to do"?? I have 88 shelves of alphabetical by author
>>> mass market sized sf paperbacks (probably another 7-8 shelves of sf
>>> paperbacks sorted by other criteria such as anthologies, Star Trek,
>>> and then my Favorite bookcase is mixed with hardcovers).  When I
>>> "discover" a "new" author like Elizabeth Bear and have to fit in another
>>> 10-15 'B' books, it poses a problem!
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> Indeed. I started using removable labels and word processor-based
>> catalogs some decades ago. As an added bonus, you can fit more books
>> into a bookcase if you separate hardcovers/trade paperbacks from mass
>> market paperbacks, then double-stack them. A balanced mix of bindings
>> can accommodate 700-800 books per bookcase.
> 
> Provided, of course, that it (and each shelf) is able to bear the
> weight.
> 
> When the shelves start curving into a "u", that is /not/ a good sign.
> IMHO. YMMV.

I built my shelves from poplar, and have had no problems. Pine would be
a different matter.

pt