Japanese architect Shinsuke Fujii has designed a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that’s meant to withstand the shocks of an earthquake. The bookcase is integral to the structural stability of the building, and its shelves even act as a ladder to reach high shelves. Perhaps Jorge Luis Borges was right, and paradise is indeed “a kind of library” – so why not make it earthquake-proof?
An Earthquake-Proof Library
Will the real Don Draper please stand up?
Chicago Magazine‘s charming 2009 profile of Draper Daniels, a.k.a. the real life Don Draper, written by Myra Janco Daniels, a.k.a. his wife.
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Su Hui’s Masterpiece Palindrome
Chinese poet Su Hui composed an 841-character array in the fourth century that can be read forward, backward, horizontally, diagonally, and vertically. The poem, entitled “Xuanji Tu,” can be read in 2,848 different ways as a result.
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Full of Carp
Midwestern investors hope the production of domestically-farmed Asian carp can give rise to “the future Zappos of fish processing,” but such optimists would be wise to safeguard their aquatic livestock against would-be carp thieves.
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Catching Mr. Harvey
Stephen Moss caught up with AD Harvey, the “independent scholar” who tricked an entire discipline into believing Charles Dickens met Fyodor Dostoevsky. (If you missed Eric Naiman’s initial piece on Harvey’s trail of deception and trickery, you’d do well to acquaint yourself now.)
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A Tide Coming In
In an in-depth interview for Nomadic Press, Shira Erlichman describes what it’s like to make art while living with mental illness. As she puts it, “The thing that is so strange to me is that it was so wide-lensed. Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, you go crazy, like in the movies. You’re just suddenly crazy.’ But there was such a domino effect. One little thing—it’s almost like 70 dominoes lined up in one track that all lead to one conclusion.” Pair with Gila Lyons’s Millions essay on writing through illness.
Needs a Good Family
Seventy-two copies of One Story are looking for loving homes. Reader, will you be a dear and adopt a hungry short story?
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