Beat up paperbacks can easily be turned into custom hardbacks with some scrap cardboard, fabric, a gluestick, and an inkjet printer. Unleash your inner graphic designer with this quick and easy tutorial!

via Turn Old Paperbacks into Custom HardbacksHow To | Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh.

Post from: reading hacks

Turn old paperbacks into custom hardbacks

via xkcd: Book Burning.

Post from: reading hacks

xkcd: Book Burning

Nicely themed cafe at New York’s McNally Jackson Books.

[via Super Relax]

Post from: reading hacks

Book themed cafe

Behind the wheel of the bookmobile is a multi-media and documentary film project by Tom Corwin that follows a classic bookmobile across country on back roads with acclaimed authors taking turns at the wheel.  At each stop the bookmobile’s doors will open inviting the public in to take their choice of digital and analog titles in exchange for interviews about books that have changed their lives.

Head over there now and hear Dan Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) talk about growing up with a love for books.

Post from: reading hacks

Behind the wheel of the bookmobile

Like the idea of dealing in rare books but can’t afford the real thing?
Looking for a Christmas gift for that rare book fan in your life who has everything?
Just like collecting anything to do with books.
Perhaps these rare book trading cards are just the thing you need.
Read all about them over at Book Patrol.

Post from: reading hacks

Rare book trading cards

Last year UNESCO named Melbourne a City of Literature. A flow on from that process was the creation of a “centre for books and ideas” which has come into existance as The Wheeler Centre.

Located in the south wing of the State Library of Victoria, the Wheeler Centre will be the new home for a number of organisations including the Victorian Writer’s Centre and the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. As would be expected you can keep up with news and events via rss, email and twitter.

Post from: reading hacks

Victoria’s new centre for books, writing, and ideas.

A few years ago I visited the Seattle Public Library and was struck by this display in the children’s library making the most of different coloured spines on the books (photo by Quadelle).

Read a rainbow at Seattle Public Library.

Every now and then I get the urge to run a similar display in my library. I tend to get blank looks or frowns when I mention it. It crossed my mind again the other day and I remembered a link gizo had sent me some time ago. It is a beautiful example of books organised by colour by flickr user chotda.

Flickr user chotda's beautiful arrangement.

Finding myself more and more excited by the idea, I did a tiny bit of digging and found a reasonably in depth treatment of the topic over at The Design Observer and another discussion at Colour Lovers. Looking a little bit closer there is even a whole flickr group devoted to the subject.

How do you organise your books? Has anyone else in Reading Hacks land taken this approach with their home (or work) library?

Post from: reading hacks

Read a rainbow: arranging books by colour

Flickr user lloydi came across this wonderful urinal backdrop in Hong Kong.

[via bookshelf]

Post from: reading hacks

Library themed toilet

How books got their titles is a blog that, as the name implies, explains how books go their titles. There is a new post every day, and they appear to be well researched.

The blog is written by Gary Dexter, author of Why Not Catch-21?: The Stories Behind the Titles

Post from: reading hacks

How books got their titles

Then try The Guardian’s 2008 book quiz.

I scored 16 out of 33 which apparently is, “Not entirely bad. You’ve clearly read a few books. Just not very many”. Not many. Bah. 57 and counting!

I must confess though, several of my answers were guesses. Some educated. Some wild.

[via bookshelves of doom]

Post from: reading hacks

Think you know plenty about books?