Originally published at: Look at this device that lets you insert an infinite number of books into a finite bookshelf | Boing Boing
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That’s beautiful…and very Japanese.
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You can actually see the gap widen when the green thing is inserted, implying the first “too tight” attempt was half-hearted at best.
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‘Infinite’
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lies-all-lies! once inserted one o’reilly 'puter book too many in a cheap Ikea bookcase (possibly a Hemnes) and pop sproing six shelves of books (and some contraband) everywhere. ruined a whole rainy sunday, lemmetellya (thank the gawds for duck/duct tape)
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Ya beat me to it. Bravo!
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I’m disappointed it’s not a Hilbert grand bookshelf.
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٭ Note: For very small values of ∞
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Even with a sturdier book shelf, that’s ril bad for your books. I got Hellboy trades that are dropping pages down to being squeezed in too tight. Slowly warped the spine. I supposed hard covers might hold up to it better, but they’re less squishable to begin with.
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Ikea says
Not just for bookworms
Fancy a wall-to-wall library or do you like to mix your family photos and treasures with your books? Either way, our multi-tasking bookcases make great homes for everything you like having around you.
which is part of the problem. Too many cheap bookcases can’t handle books, but they might be able to handle knicknacks. I recently had to replace a bookcase full of out of print books because the shelf decided to demonstrate the structural disadvantages of engineered wood. Luckily the books that can’t be had but for silly money survived intact.
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It’s like a speculum for your library!™
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But how do you get one out without the whole thing exploding in your face? 
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I have a couple of Ikea book shelves that were on the cheaper end. I think they were “Kilby” an earlier and at the time about to be discontinued version of the “Billy” bookshelf that seems to have a weirdly enthusiastic following.
They’re holding up surprisingly well despite like 10 years being chronically overloaded. Shelves are a bit bowed, and I recently flipped them. Otherwise solid. They’ll need replacement some time soon, if only because I hate them.
But I could probably just replace the bowed shelves to avoid future disaster. And these things are pretty much the lowest grade of Ikea particle board.
So I would maybe peg that more to an erosion in the quality of manufactured wood. I’ve definitely run into my share flat pack furniture that’s basically cardboard with plastic veneer on it.
What bugs me more is the proliferation of “book shelves” made up tiny squares. Yeah looks good for tchotchkes and photos. But they tend not to fit much more than a standard sized paperback, and it wastes a ton of space on thick dividers.
It’s just a really bad use of the space if you have lots of actual books.
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I was just trying to add another thin file folder to a drawer in my file cabinet last night, but it’s stuffed about 47% tighter than this slacker’s loose shelf of manga.
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I think there should be something by Zeno in that collection.
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That’s why people stack their books…
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