Re: [Meta] Wait, you sort your books how???

On 7/19/24 8:52 AM, Ahasuerus wrote:

On 7/18/2024 9:22 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:

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.

 The "balanced mix of bindings" that I mentioned earlier helps. Hardcovers do better on bottom shelves while mass market paperbacks can be stacked all the way to the ceiling without causing any issues.

Indeed. I hadn't thought about this initially, and sure enough some of the shelves were bending after some years. Two summers ago, I re-did my book shelving/organization (including some minor culling of the herd). I picked up some sturdy plastic shelving designed for automotive purposes (parts, tools, etc), including 2-3 inches of elevation off the floor (since these are in my basement), and then either put hardcovers on the bottom shelves or short-stacked them nowhere near the middle/least supported parts of the non-bottom shelves.
Tony