Hmmm what an original post....

While this looks lovely, I've always thought that organizing books by color can only be done by a person who cares more about aesthetics than intellect... or, more simply, than reading.

If a person has a ton of books they know they'll rarely if ever need or want to read or reference again, then by all means use those books primarily as another design element. But if a person actually wants to get some use out of their library (or needs to: for example, as a journalist I have a ridiculous number of books in my home because I need to reference specific quotes, or background material, on a regular basis), then books should be organized either thematically by topic area, or alphabetically. Otherwise, it becomes nearly impossible to find the book you need when you need it. For me, that would lead to a ludicrous amount of aggravation.

Interesting thought. I could sort of see it. An adventure book might have a yellow or red cover (stimulating) while a sadder or calmer book might have green or blue. Older books tend to have black fabric or brown. Discworld would be all over the place but underneath the hilarity, the ideas really are. Might have to look at my shelves and see if I still think this idea has merit.

"...I've always thought that organizing books by color can only be done by a person who cares more about aesthetics than intellect..."

Actually, it can be done by almost anyone, you just match up the colors. Tends to work best if you're not colorblind though.

As a book-lover, I really like this quote. I usually wouldn't ever arrange my books by color - especially since my husband and I have at least 2000 volumes; the amount of work would make my eyes cross. But as a reader, I like the idea of finding new connections between books and looking at them through new eyes.

It might be a fun idea in certain kinds of libraries, too - definitely not a research library, as jplee notes - but perhaps a collection of children's stories.

Also, think of the potential for record collections. Am thinking of High Fidelity and John Cusack... "No - autobiographically."

what jplee said ^^^
except
I'll admit that in the past an all yellow or all red shelf pictured here has tempted my eye, this photo makes this practice look especially idiotic to me today

I have books because I love them and like to read them. And find them, and share them. If I wanted a block of color on my wall, I'd go a different way. For decor, buy/make art, not books!
: )

This reminds me of an awesome website Miranda July made for her book last year. (It may be my favorite website ever, actually.) In my opinion, it summarizes the whole focusing on a book's color perfectly.

http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/00025

Isn't it more proper to go by author so you can easily find who you're looking for? Or even by title?

Now this is just silly-- "...the designers of these chromatically-related books saw something in the books' content that even their authors did not. Maybe their ideals share a common hue?" BZZZT! Thanks for playing! It looks nice, but if you intend to actually READ those books, it's worse than useless. If you are really obsessed with chromatic arrangements, take some 8.5x11 sheets of paper in different colors, make some book jackets with the titles printed on them, and put your books up THAT way. At least then you can FIND things. Oh I can remember the covers of books I own, but do I really want to go on a Treasure Hunt every time I want to read a book? Please!

To the select few above...

Why can't books be art? Aren't books a form of art? I applaud the creativity.

Someone should invent a handy adaptable plastic or vinyl book cover in a variety of colors so people could protect and cover their own books in the color of their choice. Then it would be fine to arrange them according to the colors of the book covers. Otherwise, no.

I am reluctant to organize grownup books this way. However I found, with children's books, it does make sense. All the Curious George book are yellow, Little Golden Books have that gold spine, etc.

And it does look sooooo pretty. I'm beginning to eye my own shelves a little more critically, they look so hodgepodgey. I think if you can organize a particular subject this way (fiction), you won't have trouble finding your books. For example, I would never hide my cookbooks in amongst a color schemed shelf. They need to be together & near the kitchen.

Anyway, I think there are ways to incorporate this technique without feeling like you are losing IQ points.

I arranged my bookshelves by color this weekend because they were an absolute mess (I don't alphabetize by author or genre or whatever, I just put books on the shelf as I finish reading them). It looks nice and it was free.

Madsarah- I had a ton of white and black books and some red. Hardly any purple or green. But I had enough red and yellow and blue to fill entire shelves.

hmm you could arrange them by title or author and make color coded dust jackets for every book you own... although who has the time for that...

I find it hilarious that people say "I don't want to go looking for my books every time I want to read them." Maybe if, as one poster said, you have 2000 volumes, that would be a problem. But for me? Even with three large, full bookcases, not an issue. I remember that I put the Peter and the Starcatchers books on the shelf in the foyer, the Ursula K Leguin ones are all in the living room, except Changing Planes, which lives in the bedroom. Most of the Terry Pratchett is in the dining room where I've stashed all the paperbacks... And even if I CAN'T remember where I've put it, my apartment ain't that big, I can spend 5 minutes browsing spines.

The only time I have problems finding a book is when I've loaned it to someone. I often can't remember who I've loaned it to.

Looks like a lovely space to relax and enjoy a book.

Not this topic again. Why not just repost the previous one(s) so everyone doesn't have to remake the same comments that have already been made, ad infinitum?

I organize my books by colour but I'm also a very visual person so I have no trouble remembering what colour spines the books I'm looking for have. Granted, I don't have a collection of thousands of books but I'd like to think my preference for arranging by colour has nothing to do with my intellect and everything to do with my strengths as a visual learner.

The only time this has failed for me was when I was looking for a book I knew had a green cover but forgot that the spine itself was pink. :)

for smaller, non-reference collections, I think it would be fine. right now, my books aren't in any easily discernable order-- it's a combination of books I 'feel' should be next to each other and when I last read them. it really takes no time to find them. plus, I'm a visual person so I easily remember the colors of the spine. I also enjoy browsing through my collection to find a particular book. it reminds me what else is there and spurs pleasant memories of books I love.

there must be some serious speed-readers out there that having to take a couple minutes to locate a book would be such a frequent inconvenience...

Books don't share ideas - they are a repository for ideas.

People share ideas - but I dont' see any one suggesting that we arrange people by color...

I'm with madsarah--this just looks "too perfect," as if some books were just wrapped over in the right color of paper to make the color statement. The randomness of how I store my books is much more interesting to me--it's like all these different titles and subjects are merged together in a sort of explosive, energetic way. Which is what books are to me, an explosion of ideas. The colors in the photo are nice, and they do an artistic touch, but god forbid you go on a book-buying spree and bring home 20 books that are green, 5 that are pink and 5 that are royal blue--I don't want to have to rearrange those shelves all the time!

Okay, are you kidding me?

I mean, it's a pretty effect, and I'm ask OK with the effect as I am with covering your books to design a picture. To be honest, I know where my books are. I sent the SO looking for something two days ago and told him it was six books in from the left side of the bottom shelf on the bookshelf on the short wall... and I've only read that book twice, never since we moved. What I'm saying here is that I have an uncanny ability to remember stupid things - like which books are where on which shelves, so the concept of the disorganization doesn't really bug me - but the contrived connection between books of different colors?

Seriously?

Seriously?

AT loves this subject "arrange books by color" it pops up every two-three months like clock work

"Donald in Pigtown", You totally cracked me up!

I love the look, and as some one who thinks with the artistic side of my brain, I'm actually apt to identify a title with a color. Sadly, my husband is not and so our books are arranged more by topic. Also, while I love the photo above, I don't know who actually has the rainbow of book jackets to pull off the look.

Pretty though!

It's hardly sport to post this topic for the umpteenth time...

Just doesn't work for those with real, working libraries. I've got thousands of books from work, school and pleasure. My SO has his own interests and needs as well.

Not to mention the frequency we've had to replace books when their spines wore out... The cover of reprints are not always the same color!

Still, we're constantly re-arranging our books. For the most part, we tend to use a modified version of the Dewey Decimal System (except that instead of organizing literature/fiction by geography, we organize it by genre). The biggest annoyance is that using a subject-based organization system means dividing out our Isaac Asimov collection (yes, he really does span the whole Dewey Decimal system). Organizing by author/editor, however, leads to many shelves of random "Anon" works... Not to mention the inefficiencies created when working on an article or a memo. No, I like having all my legal texts in one spot, my sci-fi in another, and my SO's comp sci and business school tomes someplace else entirely.

Bottom line: I'll be the first to admit that there's no perfect organization system for a large number of books. Still, I can't imagine a color system working for more than a couple of bookcases...

The think the quote is complete rubbish, but am not for or against grouping books by color. Tiamat_the_Red I think is about right, at least in my view. I don't have my books arranged in any specific way, and even with a couple bookshelves full of books, its never been a problem, I can remember where it is, and if not, i can take the time to look for it. What bothers me, is people who cover their books in covers all of the same color without identifying them on the spine in anyway. Those people are really in it just for decorations, in which case they might as well have wrapped boxes in paper and put them up.

that quote is like buying a dress and then looking for a body to fit it.

everybody is free to organise their book however they want ... colour coding is pretty, but for me doesn't work at all.

I have easily a thousand books in a very small apartment——and yes, I've read almost all of them. Applying a visual organizing principle to my collection via color adds much needed symmetry and something fun to look at. And in fact, I find books I'm looking for much more easily now. It does not make me a philistine.

While to those of us who read AT regularly, it may seem like this trend has jumped the shark a la Keep Calm, I find it way easier on the eyes and as a bonus, I get compliments every time I have people over.

enough already

LilyC, LoriSF, Pixie: trust me when I was aware I'd read the wrath of comments from more senior readers here about posting about this again. But I posted it because of the great article linked to the quote above and was hoping to direct a few people over to read it in its entirety. And although I am very, very happy you're all long-time readers with keen memories about what we post with regularity (and often with better memory than I'd ever claim), we have to consider a great many of our daily readers have never seen those past posts. This is illustrated by the fact that these posts remain popular, new comments and opinions always arise, and the topic is something people write us about with regularity. Trying to balance the regular visitor with the influx of new visitors means occasional repeats...hope you can allow a couple here and there. Danke!

Books look great arranged by color...but this quote? *cough *cough bullshit! *cough

I used to be pretty strongly opposed to this, but I love the quote above. I am now willing to consider the practice.

do you guys get a commission check from the color wheel for posting this thing over and over?

home body, what a great link! thanks for that, it was totally amusing :)

as for books arranged by color, i just think it's silly. too silly to even bother getting pissed about. but then, i'm an alphabetical girl.

hey, what about how john cusack did his records in high fidelity, after his breakup? it was like, by memory and context or something! heheh

This quote is exactly the kind of meaningless nonsense I expect from the kind of person who arranges their books by color.

I am a professional librarian, and I don't know that I could pull enough books from our shelves (90,000 books) to duplicate that display, shown, with all those colors in that spectrum arrangement. I think you'd almost have to shop with the project in mind, which is nuts.

My library at work is Dewey Decimal system (by topic) for non fiction, and by author for fiction. (Someone asked about organizing by title -- I have never seen that done on the shelves, only in the card catalog (paper or electronic).)

My home library (maybe 3000 books) is still being organized after a recent move. Basically, I try to group all the landscaping/gardening books together, all the craft books together, all the sci-fi together, etc. After that it's by what fits on what height shelf, to make the most of the shelving configuration. Once I get that done, I can pretty much find anything I have in moments within categories.

But right after we'd unboxed the books randomly, just to clear the boxes out of the house, my "domestic partner" wanted a certain book to refer to for some internet post. It took at least an hour for us to pinpoint the thing, partly because it was thin and we didn't recall what it looked like, but also because it meant scanning every single book title more than once to spot it. I respect and envy those who "just know" how to find a book in an unorganized collection, but that doesn't work for many people.

Stop. Please stop.

If I did this (and I wouldn't, because it's silly and inefficient, and I too have about 2,000 books), the orange section would be huge. All those Penguins, in all the different shades they've faded to, depending on their age - the orange section would be lovely.

Rob, honey, just admit you don't read. The admission might cause pain to the first grade teacher who taught you how. But the rest of us don't care. And no one is buying the absurd notion that you're making exciting, serendipitous connections with your wacky color coding scheme. This arrangement tickles your fancy. And that's fine. But you look at the pretty spines, and pretty much ignore the text within. The jig is up.

Gregory that's why you have archives for new readers to explore.

I remove my dust jackets, I don't like them never have. The only time a book has a color spine is if there's color printed on the book itself or some sort of picture.

i arranged books & cds by color. we separate our fiction & non- & it works great for fiction -- we have a bookcase as soon as you walk into our house & guests often seem pleasantly surprised when they realized that the books are arranged that way (or maybe they're just very polite). of course, it doesn't exactly look like the photo above but i still think it's nice. :-)

as far as the cds go, i wouldn't have arranged them this way if it had meant breaking my usual organization (alpha by artist), but i was lazy when first unpacking so i was starting from a state of relative disorganization. one of these days, i'll organize each individual color by alpha (pretty much there's just black, white, red, blue, and "other") so i can find stuff more easily, but to be honest, we mostly listen to what we've already ripped to itunes so we don't go searching through the cds very often...and when we do, i agree that it can lead to fortuitous "oh i haven't heard that in ages" discoveries.

right on, dtremit.

spare me.

Well, all my Nancy Drew books are arranged by color. That's as far as I can get with this idea.

bepsf: just as books don't have ideas, they don't arrange themselves either. The point of the quote is that by throwing established ways of arranging books you are allowed to make connections between topics or stories unrelated to each other. It's people who make the connections.

I love all the "only idiots arrange books by color." Giampietro referred to Habermas. You didn't. You lose.

I am actually intrigued by this way of viewing books. Yeah these things have texts within, but if they remain within and not interact with thoughts, ideas and realities without, they become staid and irrelevant. I think the method of arrangement matters the least. It's the exploration of new ways of expressing and inspiring thought that is most important. For those who worry about finding the book they want/need, this is not for you. This is for the people who gain inspiration from what they see. I know where all my books are. But what I like the most is when I find it, then I glance over to another part and think, "ah, I never saw it that away." V.C. Andrews and Audre Lorde? Who knew? And all thanks to the fact that both volumes are bound in a black dust jacket.

I think the people who disagree are the ones who could care less about books. They buy one, read it very quickly, and put it in their bookshelf so nosy friends can praise them for being literary and cultured. Oooh...and they even arranged it by title.

"Gregory that's why you have archives for new readers to explore.'

But that has proven to be a sure fire fail in regards to how readers/visitors actually use this site. New visitors don't use archives...the more veteran readers use it.

Like I mentioned, it's a hard balancing act pleasing a wide variety of visitors (and some who want it specifically to cater to their preferences). When it comes down to it, it's not that hard to skip a post here and there...I do it all the time amongst the countless amount of websites I visit each day, while thumbing through magazines, and while watching TV. We need to develop a Tivo-like feature for websites.

ha! i posted the following rant in the designapplause forum on 2/10/08 ...

Most opines are about LOVE, this site included, i.e., finding things we really like. What about HATE? Those solutions, habits, assumptions, that drive you crazy! I just read one about color coordinating the bookshelf. Arranging the books by the color of the spines. Yes, I like minimal and orderliness. But color-coding simply by color of spine is dumb for the garden-variety of reasons. The more I think about it, the dumbness only grows.

I was super into apartment therapy until I started actually reading comments a few weeks ago, WOAH, you have a bunch of nasty, judgemental, agressively vocal readers. Has no one here heard the saying "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?"

Now that I have that off my chest, I think arranging books by color is a great idea. However, it doesn't work so well in practice. In my experience, I can easily find my books no matter how they are arranged, and as another poster said, I like searching a little and revisiting some other titles while looking for a specific one. The real problem is that, unfortunately, most books do not come in beautiful, vibrant colors. When I tried this I had one or two shelves that looked great and one or two shelves completely covere in pale yellow, cream, taupe, and tan books, not so beautiful.

snarky snark snark. this is a design site. who cares if someone wants to arrange their books by color, and you thinks its lame. its an interesting idea, get over it.

I much prefer to reference/locate my books by content and grouping, not by colour!
How do you find that book in a crunch if you can't remember the spine colour?

"I was super into apartment therapy until I started actually reading comments a few weeks ago, WOAH, you have a bunch of nasty, judgemental, agressively vocal readers. Has no one here heard the saying 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?'"

wow, tootsiebomb! what a nasty, judgemental comment!
and right back atcha about keeping it to yourself!

anyhoo! I have to agree, I like arranging books by topic. I have 3-foot wide shelves, and I seem to be generally able to fit one genre/topic per shelf. I did arrange each individual shelf somewhat by color, and tho it's quite subtle, it looks neater, and more aesthetically pleasing.

baba yaga- I'm just saying, why do so many posters have to call everyone else stupid or crazy for their opinions/tastes? I completely see why some people want to arrange their books simply for efficiency, even if I wouldn't, and that is fine, I would never call them stupid. I'm not attacking their preferences or their design tastes in any way, I'm just asking that people not be so mean!

It's not judgmental of me to be offended by people specifically accusing people who might like this look of being stupid. I'd say it's pretty hard to misjudge that kind of statement. I just wanted to say it's really put me off of this website, I've often thought of sending in a "good questions" post, but after reading things like this, I'd expect to just get ridiculed instead of getting any good answers to my questions.

Now you've just confirmed to me that this should be the last comment I read or post on this website. Back to just reading the posts for me!

The only book I place by color are my Idiot Guides they are all yellow.

With regard to the tenor of the posts: critique involves discussion and opinion. If nobody is allowed to say that (in their opinion) the emperor wears no clothes at all, then the assumption stands that they agree that he does. Opinions are requested here. When opinions are negative, maybe we could express that more thoughtfully, but we shouldn't be suppressed.

With regard to people who disagree with finding inspiration from the juxtaposition of unlikely titles, some of us read non-fiction books on pragmatic concerns and what sits next to something is not food for thought, just locational information. If my landscaping in the Northeast book sits next to my Joseph Campbell mythology book, I'm afraid any interesting connections are beyond my ken.

But since your mileage may vary, again, everyone should enjoy the arrangement they prefer.

tootsiebomb --

If it weren't for some of us judgemental and aggressively vocal folks - would reading AT be nearly as interesting than if everything received rubber-stamp thumbs-up from Pollyanna cheerleaders?
;-)

Sometimes we'll agree, and sometimes we won't - but it's the expression of differing opinions that help us learn from one another.

Gregory -

Re: Archives - Some other sites have a nice bar along the side that link to groups of past posts by subject - ie: RetroRenovation has links to Pink Bathrooms, Ranch Houses, Vintage Appliances, etc. Perhaps something like that would be more useful than the search function?

The only way I'd shelve books by color is if I bought white covers for all of my books! I want readability so my books are shelved alphabetically by author ('cause I'm not bright enough to shelve them according to the Dewey system).

As an English teacher and life long book lover and collector, I have always arranged my books by genre, and then author. I saw a post on Design Sponge* last year and really liked how it looked, so I decided to abandon my life long method and go for it. Even though I was afraid that I wouldn't ever be able to find anything again.

I have almost 500 books of various shapes and sized and I think it looks awesome. It fills up most of a wall. I have them arranged not only by color, but for the black and white books, arranged by the color of the text on the spine. I know it sounds crazy, but I always get compliments when people come over and it has made my bookshelf so much more fun to look at (and I can still find all of my books).

I am surprised to see so many offended people. I guess to each their own.

My books are arranged by colour - I actually find it easier to find them again because I have a very good visual memory, and that's how I remember it 'oh, it's the green book with the blue spine'. And if I can't find it, it's less frustrating because it's not that it's not where it's supposed to be, it's that I'm looking wrong! And it's true that it does make me notice the other books more, seeing them in relation to each other.

Looking at my bookshelf always makes me feel happy, it's an instant lift... it's like a work of art, all by itself!

We just moved, and it led to soem interesting conversations: 'I'm missing a box - where are all my blue books?' My sister just asked me if I could rearrange her books, too.

Maybe all this brouhaha is really a nice thing in disguise?

We all love our books. A LOT!

Pretty but not for me - I have bookcases on the ground floor, the first floor and the second floor of our house - they are organised by subject - if I need to look up something on gardening for example I really do not want to to be wandering all over the place to find all my books on gardening - its just not practical for non-fiction reference books

Try suggesting this to a librarian and watch their reaction...

This is the ONLY reason to keep books you've already read. To use them as wallpaper. Although, considering the collected dust, allergens, and smell, I'd prefer to paint the wall.

For those who keep books around to prove they're intellectual... Here's your chance to show your friend(s) that you're both intellectual AND artistic.

HAHA!
Great link, home body!
I'm looking forward to the paperback collection. Wonder if they were designed with the Pantone matching system in mind!

I believe in books shelved by category, even if it a category system that only I understand. The overly tall ones of any category get culled. They belong in the tallest nook of the shelving unit simply because it is the only place they fit.

I so hate to agree with bromelia - but I do here.

Eh, with a visual memory, it could actually be useful to find books this way. (At least books you've already read and know; not so good for browsing.) But for someone to arrange their personal collection that they're familiar with this way isn't entirely crazy.

On another note-- the last time I saw an article about arranging books by color, the magazine included the oh-so-helpful tidbit of advising you to "throw out all books with ugly spines" (!) and "be on the lookout for books with colorful spines to buy". Um, no?

I almost can't believe how many people seem personally offended that some "idiot" would arrange their books by colour. Who cares? My bookshelf is out in my living room and it's there as a convenient spot for books and a visual reminder that I like to read. My friends can look through my books (that's also why it's out in the open) as they please, and they don't care if they're arranged by the alphabet, the dewey decimal system or colour.

That being said, I had no discernible organization to my bookshelf until I saw a picture of one that was arranged by colour and decided to try it. I like it, because it draws the eye towards my bookshelf, which I love. Of course, the downside is that as I buy new books... I have a lot of re-arranging (and expanding!) to do.

I'm just putting this out here - the only time I found a bookshelf of books organized by color okay is in a nursery or a preschool. After that, it should be either by author (recommended) or if you're okay enough to find them then by title (which I've done before but I prefer by author). I like knowing when I go to my bookshelf, I can find the book I want immediately. We are adults - not children.

One good question for those in favor of this - what would you do if the book's spine had more than one color? I'm looking at our collection and about a third of our books have that "problem". Maybe my bias is that I actually like to read and am constantly reading at least one book at a time (I've been known to be reading on two and switching back and forth) - so the color system would be horrid.

The flaw in the logic of that quote is that the author of the book almost never designs the cover. I'm willing to bet that book cover designers rarely, if ever, read the book. Perhaps what's gained by the random juxtapositions of books ordered by color is the insight chaos forces upon us: the human brain naturally seeks to order chaos (thus, finding familiar images in cloud patterns or acoustic tile.)

"This is the ONLY reason to keep books you've already read. To use them as wallpaper. Although, considering the collected dust, allergens, and smell, I'd prefer to paint the wall.

For those who keep books around to prove they're intellectual... Here's your chance to show your friend(s) that you're both intellectual AND artistic." - quiltmaster

No. This is NOT the "ONLY" reason to keep books you've already read.

I have read and reread my favorite books over and over again. Every time, I find new ways of seeing and understanding. That's the beauty of a great book. They are timeless works of art that will reward you again and again.

It is a very strange presumption you have that people "keep books around to prove they're intellectual." Something tells me that you're not exactly a fan of books or intellect.

undercover, I think people accuse others of the crimes they themselves are most guilty. Liars believe everyone is lying to them, cheaters constantly think we're trying to rip them off, and faux intellectuals think the rest of us keep books for the same reason they would or do--to prove something.

I wanted to give gregory some thanks for considering new readers. I am a fairly new (consistent) reader, and I watch AT for new design ideas and inspiration. I can't very well search for those words in an archive and come up with anything meaningful. Archives are for when you already know what you are looking for.

I enjoy my books, and I could see how ordering them in this way would almost irresistibly draw either my own or a visitors eye towards them - inviting browsing and exploration. It may not work out if I lack the color variety, but I don't expect it to unravel my reputation and all of western civilization in the attempt. To stay organized, I plan to get a rolodex holder, do one card per book and use a color pencil to indicate the binding color. If I decide to ditch the color-ordering I expect I'd still use the rolodex of books quite a bit - as a way to keep track of what books I have, which are on loan and which bookshelf they are on.