I began reading Henry Petroski's "The Book on the Bookshelf". What a contrast to Zukav's "The Seat of the Soul"!. This book is alive, witty, humorous and informative.

Here are a few quotes:

• "Books and bookshelves are a technological system, each component of which influences how we view the other. Since we interact with books and bookshelves, we too become part of the system. This alters our view of it and its components and influences are very interaction with it. Such is the nature of technology and its artifacts." (p. 3) Similar comments apply to the web and computers.
• "The bookshelf, like the book, has become an integral part of civilization as we know it, its presence in a home practically defining what it means to be civilized, educated, and refined." (p. 4)
• "When we enter a living room without books or bookshelves, we wonder if the people in the house do nothing but watch television." (p. 5)
• "A propped-up prop, the bookshelf plays a supporting role to the book. It is not only the backdrop but the stage itself upon which books line up for applause." (p. 5)
• "Since I have argued that design is design, regardless of the object being designed, the collection of books represents to me a unity of theme ... " (p. 7). This is very supportive of Christopher Alexander's approach to architecture and my tendency to see parallels with web design and curriculum design.
• " "The dust and silence of the upper shelf," about which Lord Macaulay wrote ..." (p. 7)
• "... "Never pull a book from the shelf by the head-band; do not toast them over the fire, or sit on them, for 'Books are kind friends, we benefit from their advice, and they reveal no confidences.'" (p. 10)
• "A bookshelf appears to abhor a vacuum, and so the void that is created when one book is removed is seldom adequate to receive the book again." (p. 11)