My Ideal Bookshelf

What a brilliant idea! And how will you leverage this idea with your team at work, your family and friends, your small group and your social media followers? The co-creators of "My Ideal Bookshelf" have served up a unique coffee table book that, at least momentarily, is more compelling than YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. The idea: invite over 100 leading cultural figures "to share the books that matter to them most; books that define their dreams and ambitions and in many cases helped them find their way in the world." So, for example, Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success , "The Tipping Point" and other books, shares 12 books that have influenced him. His next book is about crime, so he acquired 150 books on the subject. Gladwell writes, "I haven't read them all, and I won't. Some of them I'll just look at. But that's the fun part. It's an excuse to go on Amazon. The problem is, of course, that eventually you have to stop yourself. Otherwise you'll collect books forever. But these books are markers for ideas that I'm interested in. That's why it's so important to have physical books. "When I see my bookshelf expanding, it gives me the illusion that my brain is expanding, too." Across the page from Gladwell's book journey commentary is an original painting of his ideal bookshelf--showcasing the book spines creatively sorted by color and size. Amazingly, artist Jane Mount created 100 original paintings for this impressive work. You cannot resist browsing this book! Hmmm. I wonder what's on Atul Gawande's (author of The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right ) bookshelf? Have I read any of his favorites? Another writer, Andrew Sean Greer, confesses that he steals ideas from other books and "I have finally forgiven myself for not reading everything in the entire world." A chef and writer, Gabrielle Hamilton (one of the few to include a Bible, the King James Version), writes, "I think all of these books give the reader permission to break the rules." Then referencing Jackson Pollock and e.e. cummings, she adds, "You can't start out using all lowercase letters and no punctuation. You have to know all the rules first. Then you can play." Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage , by Alfred Lansing, was one of pro skateboarder Tony Hawk's picks. His theme--the importance of perseverance. An illustrator and artist, Oliver Jeffers, opens his profile with this: "I picked all of these books because I think you should always judge a book by its cover--or its spine, in this case." With a nod to high tech, Nico Mulhy, a classical music composer, showcases his iPad favorites on an iBook screen, painted sparingly with low tech brushes. The mega writer James Patterson crammed 18 picks onto his ideal bookshelf. His profile enlightened: "For better or worse, I get right into the story. It's like that rule of real estate, `Location, location, location,' except for me it's `Story, story, story.' I think it'd be disastrous if everyone wrote the way I do. But I think it's good that somebody does." The challenge was too overwhelming for Francine Prose, a writer, to pick her ideal bookshelf because "there are a gazillion bookshelves in my house." So she picked her all-Chekhov shelf. That was interesting, but more so her commentary about the difference between short-story writers and novelists (and baggy writing). "But then I remember that Chekhov wrote six hundred stories. And that he died at the young age of forty-four. David Gates asked this about Charles Dickens, but you could ask it about Chekhov, too: `Was he a Martian?' He was not from this planet." "Sometimes I meet ministers, and I always say to them," writes David Sedaris (a writer), "'If I had a church, I'd read a Tobias Wolff story every week, and then I'd say to people, "Go home."' There's nothing else you would need to say. Every story is a manual on how to be a good person, but without ever being preachy. They're deeply moral stories; the best of them read like parables." I bought "My Ideal Bookshelf" when it was published last November and I've savored this morsel, page-by-page, over many insightful evenings. Some closing thoughts: * I love books and I'm in good company. * Whew! I've hardly read anything! Where did I miss that one? * What fun--to inspire others to read with such a visually-pleasing invitation to browse 100 bookshelves. So what's on your ideal bookshelf? The graphic on the last page invites you to fill in the titles of 10 books you can't live without. I made my picks and staged my photo--and I'm already remorseful about 10 other books I ignored.

I love this book. Imagine your bookshelf published. You are what you read. The Ideal Bookshelf is a very interesting perspective on favorite books of people from a variety of successful, creative, artistic careers. A wide range of creativity is represented; from Tony Hawks the professional snowboarder to the poet Jorie Graham. The idea is to relay to the reader how and why certain books influenced these individuals, in their own words, and perhaps get you to ask a few questions of yourself. Do your most memorable books affect your lot in life, or does your lot in life determine what you read and relish? Is your bookshelf were to be published would you be honest, or maybe pick books that make you look deep, insightful, smart? Either way you are influenced by the books you put on your bookshelf. But would you have the confidence to make it public? These showcased individuals did. An illustration accompanies each bookshelf narrative creating a colorful picturesque coffee table book. What is on your bookshelf?

Absolutely love this book and have gifted it several times. So interesting to see which books have helped frame perspectives, and the illustrations are awesome. Just a fun read and something to easily pick up and put down. Highly recommend.

I really love looking at this book. My husband and I, both English teachers, purchased an "Ideal Bookshelf" print for our bedroom, and we had so much fun deciding on the one that is closest to ours (we couldn't spring the $500+ for a custom), I decided to buy the book. I love the aesthetic of the paintings; real but unreal, accurate but simple. We have already spent a lot of time looking through it and I have been inspired to pick of some of the books as well. It is just such a wonderful celebration of books and how they have shaped our lives. We have some pretty book-nerdy friends, too, so we have literally passed it around on a Friday night and talked about whose list we agree and disagree with. So, it seems like I love this book, but the reason I only gave it four stars is because I would have liked to see some contributions of a wider swath of people. It seems like there are a lot of authors, some illustrators and graphic designers, a few chefs, a few fashion-type people, but that's it. I think it would be interesting to compare some shelves of "regular" book lovers, like me.

What an interesting concept. IT was fun finding various books that others had in their collections that are also on my bookshelves. I have it displayed on my desk, rather than in the bookshelf. It is a beautiful book.

I've been in love with Jane Mount's "Ideal Bookshelf" paintings for years, what a terrific idea to have her do a whole book of well-known authors' and others' "Ideal bookshelves." Just looking through it is a treat. I love it.

Would have been nice to at least be able to see the books on the bookshelves! Some were partially obscured. Some blank. Most not mentioned in the narratives. Not sure of the purpose of this book. If you are interested in what "some" interesting people read, find another book. This book is more like mini-coffeetable.

The books came on time and they were in perfect condition. Beautiful books!

super Geschenk! In aller Ruhe durch die Bücherregale anderer Leute gucken. Das wollte ich schon immer! Manchmal bekommt man dadurch selbst neue Ideen.

This book was given as a present to my daughter who just loves it. Good result. She highly recommends it.

Don't judge this book by it's cover. The pictures are a delight but the text is self absorbed and the people aren't really known.