If you have a boring job, or just like to read at work, I have found you THE most fantastic website. You can read all day and nobody will notice! To make sure the boss does not know you are wasting time, this website is designed like Windows. I think it is very nicely done. To leave the site, it took me a while to find out, go to the start menu and click ‘log off’. After that you get your ‘normal’ screen back. Click here to visit the website.
There are a couple of reasons I wanted to show you this product, a book rest. Not only is it different from other book rests, but the website about it is beautiful too. The book rest itself is flat and you have to fold it to make it into the actual product. You can keep the book open on the rest by placing a pencil or something like it in the holes on the bottom. The rests come in different designs by different artists, but the idea is from Robert Pachowski.
It is hard to explain how it actually works, so click here for the website.
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How cute! This will look so good on the new table in my new library. It will be a useless accessory, since I almost never lend out my books. I always get them back damaged. Paperbacks usually have a ‘broken back’ when they are returned to me. I hate that. Therefor I have decided not to let other people handle my books anymore. But this gadget is very nice, I have to say. Click here to find out more.
There cannot be enough bookish gadgets in my mind. Therefor I applaud designers who take the effort to create something for us readers. Every now and again a designer takes it overboard and makes something that makes me wonder. It makes me wonder about how designers view readers.
This gadget, the ABRACADABRA bookmark, made me wonder alright. It took three designers to come up with this ‘gadget’: Jung-Hyun Lee, Won-Sik Chae & Rhea Jeong. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when they discussed the creative process of it. Maybe it went something like this:
Jung-Hyun Lee: I wanted to read last night and I could not find the last page I read.
Won-Sik Chae: Don’t you use a bookmark?
Jung-Hyun Lee: Sure, but they suck. I have used receipts from the supermarket, nice paper bookmarks with teddy bears on it and even fancy silver ones with Yin-Yang on them.
Rhea Jeong: I know what you mean. It is so hard to get your fingers in between the book and the bookmark!
Won-Sik Chae: Don’t you just hate when that happens? Let’s make something easier to save the readers. Think life vest, like on a aeroplane!
This is what they actually came up with:
I always try to finish a chapter before I lay down a book. If you are unable to do this, this might be a nice gadget for you. The gadget of today is called Book Darts. These page holders might also come in handy when you want to mark a certain passage or quote in a book. Or when you study and need to remind yourself of important passages in your text book. Learn more about Book Darts here.
Thanks to Mark for the link!
I thought you might like some wallpaper. No, not the stuff for your walls, but the things for your computer desktop. I browsed the web for some nice large bookish images to make your computer a bit more bookish. These are the a view I came up with. I will post more of them next week. (Click the image to see the large file.)
In case you do not know how to set the image as a wallpaper, do the following: Click a picture above and right click on the large image. Choose ‘save as’ and save the picture on your computer. When it is saved, right click the file and choose ‘set as wallpaper’. Hey presto!
Now this is a book that can come in handy! Actually, it looks like a book, but it is in fact a tool case. I have no idea why the makers decided to ‘hide’ the tools in a book. It seems a bit odd. On the other hand, it might be a good gift for a bibliophile husband/wive who promised to fix something. Click here to learn more.
As you know, I absolutely love bookmarks. Sometimes I try to make my own. I never thought of the idea presented here. A bookmark made out of a photo of a loved one! I wonder if I can make my dog sit up long enough for me to take his picture, haha. Have fun creating this bookmark!
Thanks to Carrie for the link!
I have the best Christmas cards ever. In a great little bookshop, I found these sets of cards depicting book spines of books about Christmas. They are made by the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford. I cannot wait to surprise my friends and family with these great cards! I will make sure to send one to my husband, so we can keep one of them ourselves, haha. You can learn more about the cards (and buy them!) here.
I just learned about this great American gift store, Signals. With the holidays coming up, this might be of use to you. Either to seek out a gift for somebody, or to add a thing or two to your own wish list. Signals sells, amongst other stuff, great bookish products and gadgets. If you have their catalog at home, get seated and drool over pages 32 trough 35. If you do not have it at home, click on the page numbers to see the catalog online: 32, 33, 34, 35. Or click here to order the physical catalog.
Thanks to Arlen for e-mailing me about this!
