our house...

i keep finding interesting books having to do with architecture (although i saw this at the moma a few years back)...

this intrigued me:

sitting in the stacks amid the smell of dusty paper and buckram, she began to envision a kind of parallel library, as if the society’s could somehow dream itself a new existence...

i also found this amazing... how could it be...? a book locked in a vault for 23 years...?

its description [this is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in switzerland. the book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “liber novus,” which is latin for “new book.” its pages are made from thick cream-colored parchment and filled with paintings of otherworldly creatures and handwritten dialogues with gods and devils] reminded me of the prospero's books ones. you can read all about it [here]

and, finally, proof that books are, indeed, dangerous tools (as i claimed at some moment or other): "according to the consumer product safety commission, some 10,433 injuries were caused by books, magazines, albums, and scrapbooks - which sounds bad until you consider that another 9,081 were caused by toothpicks or hors d'oeuvres picks." (ny times, 9.20.09)

some (other) things about maps

i forgot how much i like petra kempf's maps...

or guy debord's...

[more re. his mappings can be found here]

or these, which i just found... about fm stations in london

some things about maps

like guns and crosses, maps can be good or bad, depending on who’s holding them, who they’re aimed at, how they’re used, and why. here are some examples... or this one about why the terminator is the terminator...

here is an old one of mexico city...

[dated 1720, this map was produced by the government of mexico city in order to improve urban sanitation through the collection of garbage. it shows the central part of the city in detail, including names of streets, plazas, hospitals, hospices, columns, small squares, arches, and other places. (from the world digital library)].

some specifics on the library (and its surrounds)

the campus

the library

panorama

library at miniworld

other types of boxes...

can be found in the work of arman (such as his accumulations)

map(in) unam: boîte-en-valise | boîte à miracle

… the simple fact that millions of books exist shows conclusively that none contains the truth.

- enrique vila-matas, bartleby & co.

shouldn’t a building, like the cover of a book, include an infinite possibility of conditions? and, shouldn't the insides of buildings be like the insides of boxes imagined by cornell or duchamp?

sketches...

a book by its cover...

in an outing to the main library, we all chose one aisle in the third floor (for no particular reason) and we began to look for....

covers that appeal to us

covers that intrigue us

covers that disinterest us