Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

Reading them in their jackets is my practice, as well, for reference
books. They are shelved in jackets as there is little chance I'll sell
them on. Some of these come to me with plastic protectors already
installed.

Some other kinds of books, especially those with collector potential,
I shelve bare and store the jackets in a large flat file, along with
posters and such-like.

Books on shelves are arranged alphabetically by subject within
non-fiction categories, author's last name in fiction. When possible;
oversize seems to be a new standard for many of my interests, so the
lower shelves (for heavier books - this is earthquake country) are
becoming a jumble of subjects. Except that when we put a couple of
nice oak shelves in the living room, all the volumes with gold
lettering on the spines seemed to end up there.

Wal-Mart sells a clear, flexible 54-inch-wide plastic sheet, by the
yard. I cut a twelve-inch-wide piece the length each shelf and lay it
on top of the books. For shelves with uneven content, such as trophies
and software boxes, I have hung a sheet of the plastic from the shelf
above. Doesn't eliminate all the dust, but certainly helps, especially
in the "den" which is essentially an elaborately-enclosed patio with
flow-through ventilation from the street, by way of the garage.

Just looking around I can see a couple hundred books in stacks. No
telling when they will find shelf space in this already-crowded
"library".

There must be something patentable in that process.

Back on topic at last, food.
What does a food dehydrator look like?
Do Americans own one generally speaking,
and do they routinely use one
to dehydrate food?
What is the point of it,
in these days with stores everywhere?
(I understand that travellers in ages past had a use for it)

It will no doubt be bad.

Yes, doesn't spontaneous rehydratation push your bookcases apart,
or make it very hard to get books out again?

Jan

I've actually halved my library twice for moving house. It can be done,
though I'd never have believed it before I bit the bullet. The best
thing is to donate to charity or academic libraries: I once sold a few
books, and hated the man's attitude so cordially that I vowed I'd never
do it again. I've also had to buy replacements for some I wished I'd
kept...a sort of cheating, I suppose.

Eric Walker <email@owlcroft.com>:

Bookcases that project out into room space might as well *be* walls.

And then you could eat the skin dust yourself, turning it into a
sustainable, ecologically friendly resource. To improve its
appetisability, you could approach Jamie O. for a few ideas.

I have visions of AUEers* attempting to force their queen-size
mattresses into the freezer and of puzzled policemen examining the
decorously draped bedding that veils the snow-clad shrubbery.

*I must write to Mozilla - Thunderbird's spelling checker wants to
replace this with "queers".