PUBLISHING PORTAL

Annette Thomas Bio

It has held books upright in millions of rooms around the world for 30 years. As Ikea's Billy bookcase enters its fourth decade, why do we love to display our reading material rather than store it away?

Am a big fan of Billy bookcases -still holding all my books after a decade, despite the overload factor! A great book about the history of book keeping is Henry Petroski's "Book on the Bookshelf" (Vintage) A great read in itself! Thanks for the post, Jon!

Yes, my parents continue to buy all sorts of books that they never plan to read. I don't. I think it gives them a sense of ownership over knowledge, an ownership of ideas and ideals and they also enjoy celebrating important moments in history-something I suspect the latest generation is less concerned with (the coronation, technological advances etc.) perhaps because we have such easy access to info on the web and media.