Things You Can Do with Books
So you think books are only for reading. Think again. Books have been put to good use by mankind for as long as they have been in existence. Books are the creation of imagination (and research), but the use they have been put to belies imagination. From keeping warm (remember the movie The Day After Tomorrow) to their use as weapons of self-defense (again, lots of movies) to … well, the list goes on and on. Here, in a nutshell, are my list of nine interesting things you can do with books.
1. Use as a pillow, though it may be uncomfortable, both for the book (especially one with a bad back), and you, unless it is face down.
2. Use as furniture, but you will need lots and lots of them.
3. Build a tower, but you will need thousands of them and lots of help.
4. Follow in Matej Kren’s steps to turn book-stacking into an art form such as this display at the Museum of Modern Art at Bologna, Italy.
5. Make fashion accessories out of them like Jeremy May, whose Littlefly jewels are made from hundreds of laminated sheets of paper, covered by a layer of gloss.
6. Create sculptures, like Kylie Stillman, who uses a scalpel to infuse new life into old, outdated books by sculpting them as slabs of stone.
7. Save them, like this rare Bible in the picture, for they are our history, and our culture, and the world is what it is today because of them.
8. Gift them, for books make wonderful presents, and with Christmas so close by what other excuse do you need.
9. Recycle them, especially if you have old, moth-eaten books strewn about in the attic or basement. It’s good for the environment, and you will save a lot of trees.
I wish I could upload a photo in my comment…my friend is a local jeweler here in Amarillo, TX and she made a similar piece of jewelry for me out of the cover of an old, 60s era paperback of _Catcher in the Rye_…love the idea of recycled books as art in all forms and fashions!
‘Love the idea of recycled books as art in all forms and fashions!’ – yes, agreed, using one form of art to create another…
I love these pictures. I’m going to stick to reading them (and gifting them!) for now though
I was going to say that they forgot reading them! That could be number ten!
If you have ever tried to write one the top of the list should be appreciate them. Great post!
great pictures, Don’t know about the pillow it looked pretty hard! We have three ancient books slowly decaying on our shelf, in fact they are in the picture on my blog. We are trying to decided what to do with them. Shan’t use them as a pillow though I think we’d get bits in our hair.
Brilliant ideas
.. Thanks for sharing 