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January 13, 2005
color coded book spines
San Francisco artist Chris Cobb imagined a library organized by color rather than genre, author or title. The alphabet gives way to a spectrum of light, and as a result, bookstore browsers discover color connections between mysteries and pulp and metaphysics, all on the same-hued shelf. At the Adobe Book Store in San Francisco's Mission District, (for a limited time, perhaps), you'll find used books by happenstance -- or affinity with warm or cool or hot pink book jackets.
While I'm sure this create a rather pleasant and interesting library, esthetically speaking, it does seem to clash with the saying `Don't judge a book by its cover`.
Besides, I think one of the things that makes libraries and bookstores -especially old ones- interesting is that clashing colours for books of different textures, hues, and sizes, creates a rather eclectic mix that pleases both the eye and the curious mind. Why want to give that up?
Yes, while it was fun for the whimsical, it was frustrating (to say the least) for us serious scholars. For instance, it was impossible to scan and peruse all of the books about physics (in one location), or to compare biographies of my favorite philosophers.
Oddly, I think bookstore purchases increased threefold with the rainbow effect. Maybe that has something to do with serendipity, or maybe there is a subliminal link between colors and commerce?
Logic prevails, however, and they made the artist put them back where he found them. Now I can make a beeline to mathematics and the occult, see that they don't have what I need, and be back on the street in minutes!