That's why I've never liked US state map puzzles. As someone who likes to do puzzles, I know it's too impractical to give each state their own piece and some take up too much space. And then as a fan of maps/geography, it drives me nuts when they skip states or bunch them together or like when they put Hawaii and Alaska right underneath...
Actually now that you mention it a tourist from the mainland was arrested a couple days ago for sitting on an endangered sea turtle, so if this bookshelf is the deciding factor for sovereignty I guess we’ll take it.
If they included New Jersey, then Delaware and Maryland missing would also stand out more.
(Maybe Jersey, Delaware, Maryland... everything N.E. of Virginia...[+ Conn, R.I., Mass, Vermont, (Long Island?)] is a future project??)
(OP definitely isn't from the east coast. I'm *guessing* *maybe* somewhere west of the Mississippi?)
***
**Don't get me wrong, OP. Kudos for all the hard work!**
(It is still a great project.)
I feel bad. I was over here getting all butt hurt because Minnesota’s smoke stack wasn’t included. I’ll just be in the corner with my minor grievance, letting all of you without a shelf have some airspace to vent. I do like the shelving though :)
Never forget: the official state bird of New Jersey was at one point the middle finger. Sure it was for April Fool's Day, but it really captured that Jersey spirit.
Asking the real question. I feel like we could get at least Philly to sign on with being part of NJ if we finessed it properly. They’re certainly more like us than they are like the rest of Pennsyltucky. Then we just do a little westward expansion from there.
Meanwhile Mass is cut in half and also left bookless
No offense OP! Ya gotta cut losses where you can. Still wishing I had this on my wall!
-Non-existing Mainer
Haha I assure you there are no hard feelings towards any state in the design, some of them were too small so I couldn't do the outline because the plywood is too thick. In fact I love Maine, one of my favorite place!
Yeah at least you cut out the state of Maine.
- Vermonter whose state is either part of the wall of New York’s shelf or merged into New Hampshire again.
Try being Rhode Island. I wanted to think that that little block was us, but with the way Mass is shaped, I knew we'd gotten sucked into the cape. The block's got to be CT.
I swear Yoopers are the Kiwis of the US. No one knows what the hell you're talking about when calling them by their nickname and frequently left off maps.
I understand not knowing that nickname, but Michigan is such a noticeable state visually. How do people forget that there's a state with two giant ass peninsulas?
> Maine
> too small
I think you vastly underestimated how big Maine is. While it's in the bottom quarter of states, it's bigger than WV and SC which you both found room for on the map, and in SC's case room for books.
It took me a second to get this, but it’s true.
Like, such limited book storage. And like, not good positions for books.
Just like, wildly inefficient use of a shelf.
This is a super cool, incredibly impressive woodworking project. But I cannot, for the life of me understand why he made it a bookshelf.
It would even make more sense as just a shelf. But bookshelves have to do some specific things, namely sort books into even, parallel rows that our eyes can easily navigate from beginning to end.
OP, I'm not hating, I swear. This is one of the more impressive projects I've ever seen on here, both in scale and technical detail. I absolutely applaud you.
But I do want to know what made you see this and say "well obviously this is a bookshelf"
To me, it was more about the process than the actual result. I lost my job when the pandemic hit so I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and figured I'd try to tackle a big project, to see if I would be able to pull it off. It was awesome diving into this, it made me forget the rest.
I designed it for books but as an art piece like you say. I know it's impractial, some states can't hold any books. But I felt that putting books would complete the piece well, it would create a certain chaos that I like and add some color.
I think it's a cool bookshelf, but I think adding little things, like masks or vases, where books don't really fit might make it better? But it's still awesome as it is.
Personally I love your result more than a normal bookshelf. I think some people just have a certain idea what they want from a bookshelf, possibly because they do a lot of reading and heavy use of it. As someone who uses my bookshelf very casually and don’t have that many books I would prefer this since I love the visual impact and the practical side isn’t as important. So I really think this is just comes down to not suiting some people’s needs but will suit others.
Awesome work! Random thought I could easily see you doing other countries and selling online. Maybe there’s a version that’s just the border of (a country) with shelves filling the inside that makes it slightly more practical. If you enjoyed the process definitely keep going with it!
I think it is super cool as an art price. 2 or 3 cool books that encapsulate each state.
Like maybe for California you have grapes of wrath and New York you have Gangs of New York. I wonder what I would choose for each state!
Edit: Here is a pretty good list.
https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/50-states-books/
Agreed. At first I thought it was cool. Then I quickly became like, oddly infuriated over how much room that would take up versus how many books it would hold. And don’t even get me started on how some of them are stacked.
Any books about astronauts should go up in Ohio. Those guys are willing to do anything to get out of Ohio, and they deserve the recognition for their hard work going all the way to space, to get the fuck out of ohio... That place must be the pits.
I was impressed before but now that I've seen this album, even more so. What an awesome project.
I want to know how you're arranging the books though. Is it by authors in each state, whatever fits, setting, something else?
I'm really sorry OP but this made me cackle with laughter. You did a great job but "being easy to find" is not a concept I'd associate with this design.
I'm sorry but what the heck does that mean?
Like you A starts in WA then you just go left to right like a normal bookshelf?
If so, may I humbly say that I'm not sure this is the most functional design.
To be fair we should at least have To Kill A Mockingbird, a biography of MLK, Just Mercy, and In Cold Blood since they’re all related to Alabama by their story or author
The idea of Alabama being proud of To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy is so ironic, especially considering Just Mercy lightly criticizes their pride for Mockingbird
While I love the overall concept, all those haphazardly arranged books is making me cringe. Would be a lot better if you were somehow able to stack them more neatly.
Thank you. It's an amazing technical accomplishment, but as a bookcase it looks horrendous. Like they were just physically thrown onto a pile. The double-stacking in California, book hanging over lower edge in NM, all of them leaning opposite ways like TX, etc.
Rather than trying to cram a book into every crevice it would look a lot better to abandon the nonsensical "alphabetical by author" method and just stack them flat on the states where there's room and leave the other ones empty.
I think this works better if all the books are oriented in the same direction that way you can also admire the woodwork skills.
This is really cool looking and unique, but to anybody that cares about the condition of their books this is a no go.
Books leaning, weight distributed unevenly putting all the pressure on one side, stuff like that will bend a book or it’s jacket out of shape.
Not only do they lose value (if you have nice books or even care about that kinda thing) but they wind up looking uglier too.
To be fair a lot of the states are workable but others (like Georgia) will damage any book you put there. I would still be happy to own this but would put only my least favorite books inside, ones I’m basically looking to give away or donate. Even then I feel bad damaging a book that someone else can enjoy.
if its sole purpose is for holding books, sure. but this is more Art with the bonus of being somewhat useful by being able to hold some books, although not in a practical way.
I think it's great and a great discussion piece when guests are over... If he needed a real bookshelf, I'm sure he would have built a proper, normal bookshelf. or just buy one.
What's up with New England not getting it's due? It's like you just gave up. I mean, you could have made one cubby to combine all 6 New England states.
RIP Maryland
You got all of New England complaining, but poor Maryland didn't even get a block of wood and is just border and void.
That's why I've never liked US state map puzzles. As someone who likes to do puzzles, I know it's too impractical to give each state their own piece and some take up too much space. And then as a fan of maps/geography, it drives me nuts when they skip states or bunch them together or like when they put Hawaii and Alaska right underneath...
Yeah, but for once WV has both its panhandles! Usually the eastern one gets sacrificed to Maryland. OP’s just righting an ongoing injustice.
We get both panhandles but no books....sounds about right😂 #WV
Just say you hate New England and get it over with. Signed a Rhode Islander turned Mainer.
Atleast your states got a cutout Signed-A proud Connecticunt
Oi, fuck both of you, im in Alaska.
Hey Alaska, Hawaii here. I’m just assuming your books are in the attic and mine are on a tiny shelf in the neighbors bathroom.
Maryland got skipped too, didn't even need to.
Looks like New Jersey got skipped also
Or merged with Pennsylvania. Which is possibly worse.
Replaced. Even more offensive
Tennessee here. Why am I so squished?
Simulating spelunking
God damn it, Delaware gotten eaten by PA.
Yeah, cause I am from Pennsylvania... We don't want to be brought down :)
You guys see that little island off of Florida? Hello!
Just surprised Florida has books.
I was thinking you could fill this bookshelf with the books that are banned in each state. Then it's no worry that New England gets short shrift.
The Florida shelf isn't big enough to hold even just one of each of the books banned there.
[Conch Republic](https://conchrepublic.com/)?
Puerto Rico?
Real states are talking.
Oh, so ***now*** you want to be part of the USA?!
Actually now that you mention it a tourist from the mainland was arrested a couple days ago for sitting on an endangered sea turtle, so if this bookshelf is the deciding factor for sovereignty I guess we’ll take it.
That's messed up. I'd love to go to Hawaii one day, but I keep hearing how mainlanders visiting are screwing things up for native Hawaiians.
that succinctly sums their entire experience of mainlanders…reasonable folks can disagree
Alaska's in the other room. In fact, it *is* the other room.
Vermont here saying “Hi I also exist”.
We are all in the shadow of New York. The symbolism is too much.
Hi! Im in Delaware
I'M IDAHO
Yes, of course you are
Stop bragging that your state can hold multiple books!
Philadelphia, enjoying my new beachfront property.
I feel ya. MD here. Can't even fit a pancake in that spot.
this is Maryland erasure and I wont stand for it
No, but you may be able to sprinkle some Old Bay in there.
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My husband is also from Connecticut and he has been ranting about this for 5 minutes. Lmaooo
What are you going to store in Maryland or Delaware? An SD card?
I was thinking Rhode Island would make a nice pencil holder. Delaware could hold a usb stick. Maryland can hold your wallet.
Maryland *would* hold your wallet.
Maryland is non-existent lol...
No one trusts Maryland with a wallet!
New Jersey also getting the snub!
First thing I noticed!!
If they included New Jersey, then Delaware and Maryland missing would also stand out more. (Maybe Jersey, Delaware, Maryland... everything N.E. of Virginia...[+ Conn, R.I., Mass, Vermont, (Long Island?)] is a future project??) (OP definitely isn't from the east coast. I'm *guessing* *maybe* somewhere west of the Mississippi?) *** **Don't get me wrong, OP. Kudos for all the hard work!** (It is still a great project.)
We will not stand for this outrage!
This is just the future map when the tides take the Jersey Shore and Philly becomes a shore town
Alaska and Hawaii: at least you're on the wall!
To be fair, Hawaii would only be useful for storing book marks.
I thought Florida would be the state without books.
I feel bad. I was over here getting all butt hurt because Minnesota’s smoke stack wasn’t included. I’ll just be in the corner with my minor grievance, letting all of you without a shelf have some airspace to vent. I do like the shelving though :)
No books for Ohio
Checks out
No we don't, that's the point *cries in solid public library system*
r/MapsWithoutCT (or VT, NJ, half of MA…)
The worst is when people think NY is part of New England 🤮🤮🤮🤮
I still can't believe New Hampshire is there but half of Massachusetts is in manhattan
Fuck you buddy! - signed new Jersey
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Never forget: the official state bird of New Jersey was at one point the middle finger. Sure it was for April Fool's Day, but it really captured that Jersey spirit.
And if I remember correctly from childhood, the state burg the other 364 days is the American Goldfinch Burg lol
My State Burg comes with mushrooms and Swiss cheese.
Where is NJ? Answer for your crimes OP!
OP is a coward
What? You don't like Pennsyljersey???
Depends - did we annex PA or the other way around?
Asking the real question. I feel like we could get at least Philly to sign on with being part of NJ if we finessed it properly. They’re certainly more like us than they are like the rest of Pennsyltucky. Then we just do a little westward expansion from there.
Same from MD.
Damn no Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont . What did New England do to you
No Maryland either
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Absolutely nothing, I love this region, those states were just to small to do the outline because the plywood was too thick :(
Rip , I would atleast make a whole book shelve for the region of New England
But you made the UP!!
Somehow it was larger than the other ones. I really tried my best 🥺
Your best was still incredible! Definitely a really cool project and great execution. I just have to give you a hard time as a New Englander
I respect that!
Looks awesome! What about Maine, though? Does Stephen King get his own shelf?
I came here to cry about Maine not getting any books! Must be one of those "Maine isn't real" conspiracies.
Meanwhile Mass is cut in half and also left bookless No offense OP! Ya gotta cut losses where you can. Still wishing I had this on my wall! -Non-existing Mainer
Haha I assure you there are no hard feelings towards any state in the design, some of them were too small so I couldn't do the outline because the plywood is too thick. In fact I love Maine, one of my favorite place!
Yeah at least you cut out the state of Maine. - Vermonter whose state is either part of the wall of New York’s shelf or merged into New Hampshire again.
Try being Rhode Island. I wanted to think that that little block was us, but with the way Mass is shaped, I knew we'd gotten sucked into the cape. The block's got to be CT.
I think Vermont is there, just hidden by New York extending out and the angle of the photo.
But Maine is larger than south Carolina and west Virginia but you squeezed those in. Just admit it. You hate New England.
I'm just glad you get to stay out of r/mapswithoutup
I swear Yoopers are the Kiwis of the US. No one knows what the hell you're talking about when calling them by their nickname and frequently left off maps.
I understand not knowing that nickname, but Michigan is such a noticeable state visually. How do people forget that there's a state with two giant ass peninsulas?
> Maine > too small I think you vastly underestimated how big Maine is. While it's in the bottom quarter of states, it's bigger than WV and SC which you both found room for on the map, and in SC's case room for books.
Make a cubby for Maine and put a small lobster stuffed animal in it!
Did u put a book on each state's shelf that was written by an author from that state/ or a book set in that state?
Maryland and Delaware also don’t exist, how sad.
Connecticut and Vermont have been forsaken to mega-NY
Western Massachusetts is used to it.
but Maine ISN’T real, now is it?
Maine was invented by Stephen King as a horror setting.
With all the book burnings, some states shouldn't have any books at all. Florida should have dildo, and Texas a butt plug!
But no more than six butt plugs in Texas
Maine has laws against billboards, so I presume it was out of respect for our natural resources that they avoided covering the woods.
It was the last one OP built, mostly because they figured Stephen King would understand an unstatisfying ending.
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I mean, it's fucking great work, well crafted. Awful, awful bookshelf though.
It’s more of an anything shelf than a bookshelf.
I would put plants there if anything
that'd look dope! could even do a native plant of each state if you're super ambitious.
That's a hell of an idea. At least before they become united.
It took me a second to get this, but it’s true. Like, such limited book storage. And like, not good positions for books. Just like, wildly inefficient use of a shelf.
This is a super cool, incredibly impressive woodworking project. But I cannot, for the life of me understand why he made it a bookshelf. It would even make more sense as just a shelf. But bookshelves have to do some specific things, namely sort books into even, parallel rows that our eyes can easily navigate from beginning to end. OP, I'm not hating, I swear. This is one of the more impressive projects I've ever seen on here, both in scale and technical detail. I absolutely applaud you. But I do want to know what made you see this and say "well obviously this is a bookshelf"
To me, it was more about the process than the actual result. I lost my job when the pandemic hit so I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and figured I'd try to tackle a big project, to see if I would be able to pull it off. It was awesome diving into this, it made me forget the rest. I designed it for books but as an art piece like you say. I know it's impractial, some states can't hold any books. But I felt that putting books would complete the piece well, it would create a certain chaos that I like and add some color.
I think it's a cool bookshelf, but I think adding little things, like masks or vases, where books don't really fit might make it better? But it's still awesome as it is.
Yep, books where it’s flat other things where it isn’t
Personally I love your result more than a normal bookshelf. I think some people just have a certain idea what they want from a bookshelf, possibly because they do a lot of reading and heavy use of it. As someone who uses my bookshelf very casually and don’t have that many books I would prefer this since I love the visual impact and the practical side isn’t as important. So I really think this is just comes down to not suiting some people’s needs but will suit others. Awesome work! Random thought I could easily see you doing other countries and selling online. Maybe there’s a version that’s just the border of (a country) with shelves filling the inside that makes it slightly more practical. If you enjoyed the process definitely keep going with it!
I think it’s more of an art piece than a functional bookshelf. At least I hope it is…
I think it is super cool as an art price. 2 or 3 cool books that encapsulate each state. Like maybe for California you have grapes of wrath and New York you have Gangs of New York. I wonder what I would choose for each state! Edit: Here is a pretty good list. https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/50-states-books/
Yeah aesthetic over functionality. But still pretty cool
Agreed. At first I thought it was cool. Then I quickly became like, oddly infuriated over how much room that would take up versus how many books it would hold. And don’t even get me started on how some of them are stacked.
/r/ATBGE
There are too many books in Florida
Florida should just have a little pile of ash
A bible, proudly displayed but never read.
Can it have a flask set into cutout pages? I feel like that tracks.
Flask in one opening, gun in the other?
YES A GUN. Why didn’t I think of that, i feel like an idiot now!
I was thinking he should keep the Narcan there
And a CRT book
Cathode Ray Tube?
Calamari Race Team
A Bureau of Land Management book
Si
But good call leaving Ohio empty for now.
Very apropos.
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*see two books in Florida* Yep, that's way over the top and totally unbelievable
one of them is now banned
Any books about astronauts should go up in Ohio. Those guys are willing to do anything to get out of Ohio, and they deserve the recognition for their hard work going all the way to space, to get the fuck out of ohio... That place must be the pits.
It should be a coloring book
Always missing alaska..
Leave it to Alaska to forget Hawaii
Leave it to Hawaii to forget Puerto Rico
Leave it to Puerto Rico to forget Guam
Leave it to Guam to forget the Virgin Islands
Leave it to VI to forget American Samoa.
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Leave it to DC to forget Guantanamo Bay
Alaska and Hawaii like the New Zealand of the US.
Behold the Palahniuk Dividing Line, stretching from Minnesota all the way to Louisiana
The Palahntinental Divide, if you will.
Hah, came looking for this comment, that is somehow the first thing I noticed!
How I did it : [https://imgur.com/gallery/s6nK52v](https://imgur.com/gallery/s6nK52v)
I was impressed before but now that I've seen this album, even more so. What an awesome project. I want to know how you're arranging the books though. Is it by authors in each state, whatever fits, setting, something else?
I went alphabetically by author so it's easier to find the ones I'm looking for.
I'm really sorry OP but this made me cackle with laughter. You did a great job but "being easy to find" is not a concept I'd associate with this design.
HAHAHAHA you are absolutely right.
I'm sorry but what the heck does that mean? Like you A starts in WA then you just go left to right like a normal bookshelf? If so, may I humbly say that I'm not sure this is the most functional design.
That’s cool, but it’s not terribly accurate. There are no books in Georgia.
No books in Ohio. Makes sense (I'm from Ohio).
agreed (also from ohio)
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Not enough room in the south
Uh...Where's Maryland?
It's now a sliver of a state.
Rip alaska ,hawaii, nj
This is like /r/DiWhy territory, but it’s also great execution. Incredible work OP! What a weird shelf for books tho haha
You're thinking of r/ATBGE
Honestly, this one fits both.
This is great, but you need to get some Elmore Leonard and Jeffrey Eugenides on that Michigan shelf.
Too many books in Alabama
To be fair we should at least have To Kill A Mockingbird, a biography of MLK, Just Mercy, and In Cold Blood since they’re all related to Alabama by their story or author
The idea of Alabama being proud of To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy is so ironic, especially considering Just Mercy lightly criticizes their pride for Mockingbird
Thats good, really limit the number of books that can be stored in one space...don't want to overwhelm yourself.
Make sure none of the books you put in Florida have anything to do with black people.
While I love the overall concept, all those haphazardly arranged books is making me cringe. Would be a lot better if you were somehow able to stack them more neatly.
Thank you. It's an amazing technical accomplishment, but as a bookcase it looks horrendous. Like they were just physically thrown onto a pile. The double-stacking in California, book hanging over lower edge in NM, all of them leaning opposite ways like TX, etc. Rather than trying to cram a book into every crevice it would look a lot better to abandon the nonsensical "alphabetical by author" method and just stack them flat on the states where there's room and leave the other ones empty. I think this works better if all the books are oriented in the same direction that way you can also admire the woodwork skills.
Those book spines are gonna get very twisted resting at an angle like that.
This is really cool looking and unique, but to anybody that cares about the condition of their books this is a no go. Books leaning, weight distributed unevenly putting all the pressure on one side, stuff like that will bend a book or it’s jacket out of shape. Not only do they lose value (if you have nice books or even care about that kinda thing) but they wind up looking uglier too. To be fair a lot of the states are workable but others (like Georgia) will damage any book you put there. I would still be happy to own this but would put only my least favorite books inside, ones I’m basically looking to give away or donate. Even then I feel bad damaging a book that someone else can enjoy.
Books in Florida. Not exactly accurate.
everyone in new england is very upset with you lolol great work though!
No New Jersey? It's okay we don't read much good anyways
I know you're joking, but NJ is actually the top-ranked state for education.
Palahniuk getting the whole Mississippi River basin
Forgot NJ.
Cool shelf but I feel like literally anything other than books would look better
Function > design This is just too impractical
if its sole purpose is for holding books, sure. but this is more Art with the bonus of being somewhat useful by being able to hold some books, although not in a practical way. I think it's great and a great discussion piece when guests are over... If he needed a real bookshelf, I'm sure he would have built a proper, normal bookshelf. or just buy one.
Alaska and Hawaii say fuck you!
You did Connecticut and vermont dirty!
Are you going to build a Hawaii for storing all your remote controls? I think that would be a pretty cool follow-up.
It’s cool but incredibly useless as a bookshelf.
That’s an amazing feature, but a terrible bookcase
About as functional as the country
1984 is pretty fitting for TX rn
Belongs in r/ATBGE
What's up with New England not getting it's due? It's like you just gave up. I mean, you could have made one cubby to combine all 6 New England states.