Bookcase in a stairwell that you access via bosun's chair

Sallie Trout stuck a bookcase into a narrow stairwell, contriving an ingenious access method via a bosun's chair with a chain hoist.

Sallie Trout's bosun chair (via CribCandy)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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franka_645

OR: hang a chain motor upside-down, stand on it, and ride it up like Danny Zucco!
obeyken

That gives me an idea for an underwater refrigerator and accompanying scuba gear.
Anonymous

I love the idea. Fun to get books and looks great. Awesome job, this woman could decorate my house anytime.
awjtawjt

Now that’s practical. As long as you have to trim the sheets while you’re up there and check for land.
Anonymous

Better to have a Kindle. Save the space, save some trees and avoid silverfish infestations.
bcsizemo

Did she get a permit for that…? /jk
Alex French

Neat, and aesthetically pleasing. But how ’bout just arranging the books a little more conventionally so they fit within reach? Or an aesthetically pleasing, unobtrusive ladder?
Alvis

For a project that reclaims otherwise wasted space… that shelf layout wastes a lot of space.
knoxblox

This might be a cool idea for other spaces, like a pantry?

Safe or not, this feels like something Caractacus Potts would build.
travtastic

Cool as an art piece. Not so cool as a single point of failure, that fails by throwing you fifteen feet onto your back.
- franka_645
  
  good point! I would be more concerned with what the hoist was hanging from, than the hoist itself if it’s been properly maintained. All respectable chain hoists have redundant safety features and one with roughly that thickness of chain is probably made for either 1/2t or 1t (with a 5-1 design ratio.) The clutch would slip at that point. However the shock-load of a person falling from just a few feet could get that high pretty quickly.
  
  Chances are, if you have been to a few concerts in arenas, theaters, or clubs you have stood under some of these with some relatively heavy nonsense like speakers attached to them, and paid for the privilege. A CM manual will actually say “not for overhead lifting” but with care and knowledge they are used safely.
  
  Where is the control point? If this is a motor, it would be nice to drop a pickle down on chain sliders so you can control it yourself. hopefully, the power won’t go out…
razen cain

Instead of “ingenious” I think Cory meant to use the word “ungenius.”
dculberson

[shrug]

It’s only incredible and just the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Anonymous

A regular bookshelf would hold all of those books if they were arranged in a normal way.
20 shelves with 5 books each is not the most efficient thing I have ever seen.

And the upside down and sideways shelves?
If it were about storing books and not about “looks” a regular shelf would have done the same job.
- Sproogle
  
  Oh, sorry, I missed the one “WELL THIS IS HOW I WOULD DO IT IF THIS WERE ME EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOT BUT HERE I GO ANYWAY.”
frankieboy

could it be rigged up under a glass staircase? just wonderin’
MacBookHeir

Reminds me of that recent movie “127 HOURS” where that climber gets caught between two rock faces. Only in this case a book lover might get caught between Webster’s English Dictionary and a copy of Dante’s “Inferno”
Anonymous

Seconded. Coolest thing I’ve seen since the Japanese shelf-house.

I knew the concern trolls would be along forthwith
Anonymous

Great for dropping books (and other things) on little brother’s head
technogeek

As someone who has done some technical climbing, I wouldn’t be excessively paranoid about its safety — I just wouldn’t let anyone use it without a safety belay unless they were competent to accept the risks and had been checked out on it. And I’d want to plan for how one gets down in a hurry if there is an emergency with power loss.

However, the book lover in me is frustrated by all the wall space wasted in an effort to make it pretty. If you can see the wall in your library, you either don’t have enough shelving or don’t have enough books.
Anonymous

This concept was in China Mieville’s book Un Lun Dun!
JamesMason

It just seems like after the novelty wore off, most kids would not bother to go get the books that are up high so most of this would end up being “book art” and the only shelves that would get used would be at the bottom.

But it is a cool idea, I will grant that.
Donald Petersen

Neato. Only thing I would have done differently is the shelving layout. I like dense, continuous shelves, to maximize payload. Randomly broken-out shelves like these look wasteful, disorganized, and inefficient to me. I’d do something like this just to maximize the utility of the storage space, not to make it unnecessarily pretty. But still: thumbs-up.
CASizemore

It is an art piece it as much about the layout and the overall design, then a efficient layout. If I had place like this I would think about doing something similar.
tyger11

The perfect solution for reading during a zombie apocalypse. Those should all be zombie books. Zombies can’t jump.
Antinous / Moderator

Did he died?
tylerkaraszewski

I just hung a bookcase from my jib halyard and hoisted it up to the top of the mast. Whenever I want to read something I hook up a bosun’s chair to the spinnaker halyard and take a ride up there to get something.

Other sailors just keep their books in the cabin, but that seems ridiculous to me.
- chgoliz
  
  Arrr, laughin’ out loud Aye.
jeligula

Not recommended for homes with a well stocked wet bar.
Anonymous

Awesome, but it must be such a bitch to dust.
Anonymous

I’ve actually seen this in person and it’s amazing. This and the original post fail to portray the sheer height of this space. The shelves extend 25 or 30 feet into a tower above and terminate in a windowed space overlooking some of the most beautiful terrain in central TX inc. the Pedernales River. The rest of the home is impressive as well, the building and many of the furnishings having been designed and fabricated by this brilliant woman
CH

First I went “Coooooool!!!!!”, and then I saw the shelves and the book nerd in me went “Whyyyyyyyy?!?!?!?!!!!1oneoneone”.

I have never understood book cases like these. Yes sure, if you are one of those people who only have books for decoration. But why on earth would anybody use shelves like that otherwise????? And why the heck the uside down shelves??? I dream of having one of those old fashioned libraries with a high ceiling and bookcases from floor to the ceiling, and a ladder that is attacked to the bookcase that you can push, and books filling all the bookcases, and… and… and… oooh…. yeah…

With a wall like that in the picture, you could make just a tiny corner look like that.. and then she goes and installs “for decoration only” shelves like that!!!!! Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
tyger11

Those shelves also look like a cat-attracting area.
Marya

Safety is not the problem, human nature is. Those books out of reach will not be read, not after the novelty wares off.
They will become quite dusty.
The maid will not clean them.
Oh well.
Bauart

Ugh… Seems great, least until you want to go to the second floor. This could be used as a billboard to sell eBooks.
Anonymous

Alice in Wonderland comes to mind………
flappy

Jeepers! Me and my kids would rather navigate that literary playground than have, for instance, a temporary bagel stretching our eyebrows. (see above) I dislike how many of the commenters come from the insurance/legal/fear of risking anything point of view. If that was in my house, I’d spot my kids on it and y’know what? They’d wanna return the books to the same place. Reading is fun!
- travtastic
  
  It’s not an irrational liability concern. Are you going to maintain the ceiling mount, and inspect it regularly, maybe with a torque wrench? The chain won’t break, but it has to be connected to fixtures that are bolted onto something. What about in five years, when the bolts start to wear out the internal threading on your ceiling, from the torque of swinging around on it? Does a stud/support beam happen to line up properly with that hole where the book shelves are at?
  
  You don’t have to be a paranoid hermit to not take unnecessary risk. Like I said above, it’s a cool concept and art project, but it’s not something that should be going into your house, for regular use. And it’s definitely not something I’d put kids on. I wouldn’t even say it’s efficient, although it is nice looking.
  
  You could also do the same thing with a floor-mounted scissor lift. Just as fun, now with railings!
  - flappy
    
    Well my kids grew up with a bench swing that was anchored to a tree limb about 40′ off the ground. I think I could keep this one secure.
Sproogle

From zero to “HOW IMPRACTICAL” in two posts. Bravo, Boing Boing.
flappy

Just read the comments again and I’m struck by how y’all hate fun.
Have a great time being critics!
Ausonia

Some people should undo the chains,open the box, then the door and then the other door and find out what’s outside. They have as much innate adventure as a dead parrot.
InsertFingerHere

Neat, cool, but I’m sure goes against building codes. Even those chains & hooks I got in my bedroom ceiling probably wouldn’t pass.
Anonymous

I love this.
Kosmoid

I wanna tickle those tootsies!
Jack Daniel

Not a bad way to force-feed your kid some books.
Anonymous

Anybody know where I can get a cheap chain hoist?

I want it for hoisting heavy junk into my loft, but I’d fit a bosun’s chair on it for getting myself in and out, too.

And before anyone wets themself in concern for my safety, you should know I’m currently using a 150 year old iron block and tackle with a 1″ hemp rope that’s broken twice already (I spliced it back together with long splices). So a chain hoist will be a significant improvement, particularly when I’m hauling up the cement mixer for storage.