There is a world in every book.

Every book opens to us new scenes, while the bookcase that contains it remains unchanged through the years.

The stories it contains change, but as life hurries on to other places, the bookcase gathers dust and unmistakeable smells. Why do we love the smell of the pages? It’s a matter of chemistry, associations and memories.

And memories, whether pleasant or painful, need to be preserved over time.

How many memories can a bookcase preserve? As many as the connections we involuntarily make as we read.

In such a high-tech age, in which we visit the Apple Store but not a bookshop, have we ever thought of a bookcase as a container of memories? If we did, not only would we value them more highly, we would give them a place of honour in our spaces.