Improbable Libraries: A Visual Journey to the World's Most Unusual Libraries

This beautiful book illustrates all types of libraries around the world from tiny boxes on village streets to large research libraries. Innovative design ideas show just how resourceful home owners can be to accommodate their book collections. Perfect for anyone who loves books and libraries and unusual architecture.

A sheer delight in reading and a captivating collection of photos of global libraries, reaching into the tiniest of spaces to a vast landscape covered in books. Each one a love story in the making, a desire to get more books into more hands is what ignites the soul for so many around the world. Author Alex Johnson takes us by the hand and shows us what he has discovered. It's a lovely adventure to embark on all from the comfort of a perfectly sized book.

Beautiful book! It was a gift for a co-worker who left my library to work for another.

A delightful small book with beautiful photos and stories of unlikely libraries world-wide. When someone has a will to provide a library, there is always a way. It is also a good reminder of what can be done on the honor system.

Interesting book about libraries in all kinds of spaces. Good gift for bibliophiles.

My wife loved this book. We did not know there are so many unique libraries in the world.

To read such a passionate look into 'improbable libraries' around the world makes this teacher/librarian's heart sore.A beautiful portrayal covering an International movement.

What a delightful book of 233 pages of libraries all over the world. There is the Dutch designed bamboo library at Koh Kood, Thailand, complete with a bamboo dome, phone booths in New York converted into libraries since there are 13659 payphones in a city with more than 17m cellphones, and plenty of libraries on boats. Some of the boats are modern, and some are just rafts. There is the incredible children’s library in Mongolia carried around on camels, whereas they use donkeys in Ethiopia, and elephants in Laos, for the same reason. On the other hand, modern and ultra-modern libraries such as the open-air library in Magdeburg, Germany, and the University of Aberdeen Library. Small home libraries are featured with a number of choice entries such as the ‘Tea House’, a library on the first floor ‘with a triangular balcony built around a mature tree, and the spectacular library of Wade Davis in Washington DC, that has to be seen to be believed – it has a domed library hovering above the owner’s study. This is a bibliophile’s collectors’ item. All the photographs are beautifully taken and the prints are of high quality. The names of the designers and owners are given where possible.

I thought this would be a more serious work. Rather, it is little more than photos and descriptions of mostly silly, not so serious, "libraries." As I say, I was hoping for something more inspiring and more interesting, even informational on unusual specialist libraries. Oh well, it is someone's idea of a fun book, but not for me.