Can I see your bookshelves?

---

Perhaps I'm weird, but there was a time, not too long ago, when upon entering someone's home for the first time, I'd go straight to the bookshelves, and to the record collection (invariably displayed in an open case) to get a feel for the person I was visiting. Our book and record collections used to be a window onto our personalities, or at least our histories.

Digital book and record collections make sizing up someone much more difficult. Few people would raise an eyebrow were you to wander over to their bookshelf and scan the titles there, or if you took a record off a shelf to, in the act of holding it, perhaps also get a feel for the music inside, and the person who listens to it. But even in an era of shared bookmarks (and not too long ago these were perhaps also considered rather personal), it's not considered very polite (nor is it particularly easy) to click into someone's hard drive and skim the titles of albums and e-books there.

---

Go to: You keep your music on your hard drive?, or
Go to: Doing things the hard way.