Spirit level bookstand

This bookstand holds seven books at the same height, embedded in a block of Western red cedar that was recycled from an old mantlepiece. It was inspired by Mike&Maaike's brilliant JUXTAPOSED: Religion bookshelf, which sold for $2500 in a limited edition of 50. I don't have $2500 to spare even if they hadn't sold out, but I DO have some wood and a shiny new tablesaw...

Step 1: Books

You need a small stack of hardcover books. I emulated the original: "The world’s most influential religious texts are brought together and presented on the same level, their coexistence acknowledged and celebrated", but used The Dhammapada in the place of the more substantial The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (which was expensive). Here are the exact editions that I used:

_{The Dhammapada | The Torah | The Bible | Tao Te Ching | The Qur'an | The Analects | The Bhagavad Gita}

Choose editions you like the look of; try to get a nice variety of colors, heights and widths (the depth doesn't matter so much in this design). Used books add character and you can often find these for just a few $. I removed the dust jackets from all of the books, because I preferred the look of the cloth. Of course, the books don't need to be works of religion - Mike&Maaike have also done JUXTAPOSED: Power, and the idea is transferable to any set of books you want to showcase and whose ideas you think should be considered in a balanced way. 

Comments

[stevet47]

I like yours better as well, although I do like how the original version was cut to align the fronts.
Great job!

[makendo]

Thanks. I agree with you - initially I was going to add a back with cut-outs as well - but after getting 90% of the effect for a fraction of the effort, I decided to stop!

[StoryAddict]

I like yours much better. 1) Far less expensive, 2) DIY, 3) yours is much more aesthetically pleasing, I have to say. Also, if you want to add more later, it's not like you'd have to take down a whole 3foot block of wood from the shelf to carve out more space. You can make several different shelves for "juxtapositions" on various subjects. Very nice work.

[makendo]

Thanks very much. I was originally going to make an accurate replica of the original but it looked tough to make and finding a place to put it was going to be tricky. I do like the idea of making different versions, too.

[iceng]

Very neat..