I guess there isn't a way to do it so that you wouldn't ruin a book, is there? It's a really cool idea, especially for people who have 12 foot ceilings (like I do). My roommate and I have TONS of books.

Is anyone else having trouble with the links? I click on it and it has an error.

The destruction of a book, any book, just to achieve a visual illusion bothers me.

DD,

why is that?

Go to a thrift store and pick up an old looking hard-cover book with an interesting title. Ruin it. Bask in its functionality :)

You can get the shelf bracket for $11 and you won't destroy a book. It is by Umbra and they call it the Conceal Book Shelf. You can do an internet search with that name and it will come up. I got mine at Linens n Things. If you use the bracket, you can change the entire look of what you have on the shelf, rather than have one book permenently there.

you can get a fake book (entitled "Ceci n'est pas un livre") shelf at the Container Store

Archie: Books represent knowledge and enlightenment. Even if a particular book is old and "past it", it still represents the idea of knowledge. Destroying it is to me akin to destroying something sacred.

Design Dabbler, I respecfully disagree. Would you consider Paris Hilton's doggie diary (or whatever it was) sacred? ;) If you were to think of books as objects, I think that there are many books not worth the information contained in them, and their individual value is subjective like any other object.

Mlle Kate

I do think that books are sacred for what they symbolize. The Paris Hilton example you quote -- is there really such a thing? -- does shake my faith, though.

DD, I kid you not: "The Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries: My Life Tailing Paris Hilton" was published in 2004. My favourite amazon.com review features the sentence, "This book is pretty cute, all things put together, and D. Resin whoever he may be has a cunning way of seeing events from a Chiahuahua's (sic) point of view." I'm not sure if he's serious or not...

Sorry to contribute to the destruction of your faith in literary mankind.

Cheers,

Mlle Kate

I say why go to all that when you can buy a Conceal shelf for $9.99

http://www.utilitieshome.com/store.php?crn=99

Umbra also recently introduced a version of this for bath towels that is a very cool bathroom design idea

http://www.utilitieshome.com/store.php?crn=91&rn=577&action=show_detail

Somewhere on the link i read that instead of ruining a book you can use a piece of wood and photocopy a book jacket to wrap around it. Or I was thinking you could just paste a book jacket to the piece of wood and paste on a photocopy of the 'pages'.

book lovers rejoice!

All of my books have a certain symbolism, and that's (in part) why I have and treasure them. That being said, I know there are awful books out there. I guess I just don't hold them in the same category as *books*. Anyway, Design Dabbler, I agree--but it shouldn't shake YOUR faith, since you wouldn't have the Tinkerbell book in your apartment, even as a lowly shelf.

Like others have mentioned, the Umbra conceal bookshelf does the same thing without you having to sacrifice a book, and considering it's price there's not much reason to DIY one.

why keep and display books? done reading it? pass it on...

Genius. Give the man a job!

I swear I saw this in Readymade or somewhere within the last month.... Anyone else?

Kate-Instructables maybe?
http://www.instructables.com/id/EOFOYM0RBUEXCFH30A/

I'm for the functionality.
usually i buy paperbacks and these end up getting all messed up and uglied after being stowed in my pocketbook for the length of time i read them....i'll take the book with me everywhere to read whenever i have free time (waiting on lines at a supermarket....waiting for a train or bus...whatever)
since i don't worry about the condition of ALL of my books, no big deal. the ones i do care about i keep on a regular shelf and they're not in my kitchen. Also, i don't hold onto books after i've read them. i like the idea of using my cookbooks as shelves in this way...besides, since i use my cookbooks and i'm not the neatest cook...they get a little messed up anyway. i'm not worried about them getting ruined on an umbra shelf or something like it.
LIFE WOULD JUST GO ON.