I’m down on my knees, begging you please not to do this to your bookshelf

How many takes will it take to kill the backwards bookshelves trend? 

I don’t know. But that won’t stop me from tryin’.

#Backwardsbooks is a recently reemerged design trend where books are flipped to hide their colorful spines. The effect is neutral and monochromatic and, I guess, pleasing to the minimalistic Crate and Barrel elite. 

It’s also violently boring and offensive to traditional bookshelf design values — principles my living room was built on.

The backwards bookshelf fad first emerged sometime in 2009. At the time, it was believed to a reactionary movement against the growing and equally heinous “organize by color” bookshelf aesthetic.  Read more…

More about Watercooler, Books, Bookshelf, Culture, and Web Culture