My wife does this to our books and it drives me nuts.
“Where’s The Art of War?”
“It’s in the black section”
One year her mom and I reordered them by author last name while she was away on a work trip. Took her 5 seconds upon returning home to notice it was different and she was furious.
Put yourself in her shoes. If she derives joy from a colorful sorting of the books, it’s likely any other sorting would cause some annoyance/anguish (however minor). She would feel this way each time she laid eyes on the bookshelf.
On the other hand, a colorful sorting would only negatively affect you when you are actively looking for a book. I’m guessing that’s far less often than she merely looks at the bookshelf.
A compromise could be that she sorts the books by color and then by authors name. Not the most efficient sorting method for finding books, but would save a considerable amount of time compared to no author name sorting at all.
Edit: alternatively, a quick Google image search of the book name would tell you all you need to know to quickly find it in a colorful sorting.
I know, right. It’s crazy to me that people need to actually read the spine of a book they own in order to know what it is. Like, don’t you know exactly what it looks like? It’s your book. In a personal library, it makes sense to group books by how similar they look.
My wife does this to our books and it drives me nuts.
One year her mom and I reordered them by author last name while she was away on a work trip. Took her 5 seconds upon returning home to notice it was different and she was furious.
Put yourself in her shoes. If she derives joy from a colorful sorting of the books, it’s likely any other sorting would cause some annoyance/anguish (however minor). She would feel this way each time she laid eyes on the bookshelf.
On the other hand, a colorful sorting would only negatively affect you when you are actively looking for a book. I’m guessing that’s far less often than she merely looks at the bookshelf.
A compromise could be that she sorts the books by color and then by authors name. Not the most efficient sorting method for finding books, but would save a considerable amount of time compared to no author name sorting at all.
Edit: alternatively, a quick Google image search of the book name would tell you all you need to know to quickly find it in a colorful sorting.
Or book jackets. That’s what I’d do. Gives an opportunity for creative outlet, too!
This is the smartest solution. Order and aesthetics simultaneously!
it’s ridiculous and insane.
I know, right. It’s crazy to me that people need to actually read the spine of a book they own in order to know what it is. Like, don’t you know exactly what it looks like? It’s your book. In a personal library, it makes sense to group books by how similar they look.
you do you, crazy man. keep telling yourself this shit makes sense lol
No, unfortunately, it would remind me every time that I looked at it that I had somehow married someone who thought this was acceptable.