Bibliomania is the online remnant from a project devoted to the presentation of an individual's catalogue of books. An invited group of contributors were asked to provide a list of books, in any format, to form part of an installation in a gallery space, a 'library within a library' wherein the only forms of categorisation were their selection criteria and presentation style. In general, the project was an opportunity to swap lists that wouldn't look out of place on a cultural studies course, but there are the occasional gems. We like David Blamey's Kashmiri Good Nature library, a catalogue of the well-thumbed books that 'self-accumulate' in a store on the fringes of the tourist trade in Gokarn, India. Ron Haselden's books about the sea also has potential.

In general, though, this idea fails to make the most of the medium. Booklists of all sorts proliferate on the web. It's not just that people want to share what they've read, but that the tools for researching a bibliography or compiling a wishlist are so accessible and finely honed that they form one of the backbones of the internet. It seems there's a chance to make a genuinely interactice and interlinked collaboration, a web project that builds on Amazon's automated recommendations system to create an alternative, more personal, network of data and connections.

Entirely unrelated. Cars with aeroplane engines, an entertaining tale of those who search for just a little more power (this enthusiasts' site also has sampled engine noises, a sign of true dedication). Strangely, the piece doesn't mention John Dodd's infamous 'Beast', a semi-legendary vehicle of awesome power and jaw-dropping hideousness that placed the Merlin engine from a Spitfire into a glass-fibre bodyshell bearing the legendary Rolls-Royce radiator. The engine's provenance has since been called into doubt, as has the vehicle's alleged top speed.

Elsewhere. London, map links, courtesy of haddock. A seriously high-powered turntable. Float pens (via muxway). Children’s Books of the Early Soviet Era (via textism). Crashed Rolls-Royces. Thanks to The Loupe for the link (we'll change that red colour soon, promise). We don't read Japanese, but Pallanoia also looks interesting. posted by things at 10:16 / 0 comments