Almost certainly the least interesting thing I could be talking about right now

[flamingweasel]

So it only took me a little more than a year to decide the bookshelves should be organized by a method other than "the order I took them out of the boxes."

Poll Dead trees
*: By selecting this option, you agree to come to my apartment and organize the books like this.
**: This is probably not going to happen.

Comments

[chocolatesmudge]

Or, at the very least, separate fiction from nonfiction...

[flamingweasel]

Well, I've already mostly done that. But where does In Cold Blood go? It doesn't feel right sticking it next to the science- and history-dominated nonfiction. My sections currently are: science, history, speculative fiction (mostly scifi, a bit of fantasy), comix, graphic novels, howto, reference, politics, philosophy, religion, linguistics, compsci, kid stuff, and literature.

[flamingweasel]

Oh, and the small sections are currently organized by theme + clever/humorous/objectionable/offensive juxtapositions.

[jaubertmoniker]

I do the opposite of this; I keep my fiction and nonfiction together, alphabetized by last name. That's one less thing I need to know when finding something. Also, I'd be more likely to look for a book by someone near other things by them, regardless of the fiction/nonfiction status of any individual work. But I recognize that this is what people call "just me".

[stereotype441]

When I lived in my apartment in Beaverton, the organization scheme was: alphabetical by author, fiction and non-fiction mixed. Now it's: random, fiction and non-fiction mixed.

Part of the reason I never reorganized after I moved was because I almost never go looking for a particular book. Instead, I go and browse the shelves until I find something that (a) looks entertaining and (b) I haven't read in a while.

Probably what I should do is re-randomize the books every year, so that different books wind up in obvious places.

[qousqous]

You should use something resembling a double-ended version of the Noguchi Filing System: for books you have read, order them by least recently read down; for books you haven't yet read, order them from oldest purchased down. If you read a book but don't finish it, move it to the top (i.e. with the oldest purchased) of the unread pile. When you (re)read and finish a book, put it at the end of the recently read section. If you start to reread but don't finish a book, put it back where it was.

There will be some guessing in here, for sure, but I don't think precision has anything to do with this filing system.

[qousqous]

Alternatively, you could order them from most hated to most loved. Unread books go in the middle, from ones you expect to hate to ones you expect to love.

[conform]

Yeah, because your opinions on that won't change on a regular basis.

[pmb]

The system you mention is predicated on the old stuff being easy to move and for everything being able to fit on a single shelf. That is not the case here, so I'm unsure it applies.

As to what organization flamingweasel should use... I'm a big fan of "random, but sorta by topic". This is because I often want to read a book of a certain style or from a certain genre, but I am willing to browse within that category. Also, it enables serendipity (Aha! Here's the panther book even though I was looking for the camel book!) but generally tries to eliminate implausible serendipity (Here's that scifi book that's totally relevant to the recipe I want to make? No.).

Basically, the question is whether browsing is for quick finding or for serendipitous looking. Random-by-topic gets IMO the best of both worlds.

[roninspoon]

I have chosen to arrange my many tomes randomly. I will not deny that this is partially due to laziness. However, there is another reason. I find that it encourages exploration and discovery.

[buck_fuddy]

I didn't do it after this move, but I have been known to arrange my books by a two-key sort: Author and then publication date.

Emilie isn't nearly so "organized," however, so now they're in "whatever order we took them out of the box." ;)