Frequently asked questions about my bookcase
Why I organise my books by colour, and why you should too.
One of the first things that most people notice when they see me on a video call, livestream, or visit to my house is my BILLY bookcase. Not because it’s big or anything. In fact, it’s quite small. It is however organised by colour, which seems to trigger a lot of people.
Frequently asked questions
I often get questions about my bookcase. This page tries to answer most of them.
Why on earth would you do this?
My books spend more than 99.9% of their time in the bookcase. Since I rarely need to retrieve a book from the bookcase once I’ve read it, it makes little sense to optimise my bookcase so that books are easy to find.
Instead, I prefer to maximise the aesthetic qualities of my bookcase, since it’s there 100% of the time.
How do you not spend hours searching for a book?
Unlike some people, I actually read the books that I buy, so I know and remember what the cover looks like. It also helps that most books are non-fiction, so by the time they get a place on a bookshelf they’ve often been read more than once.
Why don’t you read fiction?
I have better things to do.
Where do you buy your books?
I would love to support my local bookshops, but I usually buy my books online. Not only is it cheaper, it is also more convenient and the books do not come with annoying stickers that I have remove.
Which books do you own/recommend?
The table below shows (some of) the books in my bookcase and how much I appreciate them.
| Colour | Title | Year | Pages | Language | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York City encounter (Lonely Planet) | 2010 | 260 | en | ||
| Head first design patterns | 2004 | 629 | en | ||
| Principles of economics | 2009 | 786 | en | ||
| Making software: What really works, and why we believe it | 2010 | 624 | en | ||
| Megastructure Schiphol: Design in spectacular simplicity | 2013 | 320 | en | ||
| The Oxford style manual | 2003 | 603 | en | ||
| Modern database management | 2002 | 720 | en | ||
| Knowledge engineering and management: The CommonKADS methdology | 2000 | 439 | en | ||
| Public transit planning and operation: Modeling, practice and behavior | 2016 | 702 | en | ||
| 香港巴士年鑑2017 | 2017 | 182 | zh | ||
| The goal: A process of ongoing improvement | 1984 | 362 | en | ||
| Survivalgids voor de OR: Praktische toolkit | 2020 | 83 | nl | ||
| Introduction to information retrieval | 2004 | 440 | en | ||
| Business process management: Concepts, languages, architectures | 2007 | 355 | en | ||
| Handboek buitenpromoveren | 2015 | 407 | nl | ||
| Logica voor informatica | 2003 | 352 | nl | ||
| Domain-driven design | 2004 | 514 | en | ||
| London encounter (Lonely Planet) | 2007 | 240 | en | ||
| The mythical man-month | 1975 | 292 | en | ||
| Interaction design: Beyond human-computer interaction | 2007 | 722 | en | ||
| Problem solving with C++ | 2009 | 1048 | en | ||
| Model checking | 1999 | 295 | en | ||
| Boston encounter (Lonely Planet) | 2008 | 176 | en | ||
| Designing interactive systems: People, activities, contexts, technologies | 2005 | 759 | en | ||
| Verjongd stadshart: Een nieuw Utrecht Centraal | 2016 | 174 | nl | ||
| Communiceren als een beest: Handboek voor effectief communiceren in de OR | 2020 | 99 | nl | ||
| Graduation guide for design students | 2012 | 144 | en | ||
| 300個歷史之謎 | 2004 | 291 | zh | ||
| All my friends are dead | 2010 | 96 | en | ||
| Wayfinding at Schiphol: On the how and why of signage at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol | 2008 | 53 | en | ||
| Introduction to computer security | 2014 | 498 | en | ||
| Help, ik zit in de OR!: Meer dan 250 Gouden tips voor de ondernemingsraad | 2018 | 229 | nl | ||
| 111 plekken in Utrecht die je gezien moet hebben | 2016 | 231 | nl | ||
| Hong Kong unveiled: A journey of discovery through the hidden world of Chinese customs and culture | 2012 | 267 | en | ||
| Hammer & tickle: A history of communism told through communist jokes | 2008 | 312 | en | ||
| Managing the unmanageable: Rules, tools, and insights for managing software people and teams | 2013 | 402 | en | ||
| Peopleware: Productive projects and teams | 1987 | 237 | en | ||
| Building mobile experiences | 2012 | 137 | en | ||
| Secure programming with static analysis | 2007 | 394 | en | ||
| Software security | 2006 | 543 | en | ||
| Understanding the theory and design of organizations | 2007 | 518 | en | ||
| Steve Jobs: De biografie | 2011 | 678 | nl | ||
| Discovering statistics using SPSS: (and sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll) | 2000 | 808 | en | ||
| Psychologische veiligheid: Zo vorm je vrijmoedige teams | 2020 | 157 | nl | ||
| What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School | 1984 | 137 | en | ||
| Human transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives | 2012 | 236 | en | ||
| Information is beautiful | 2009 | 255 | en | ||
| Fundamentals of game design | 2010 | 651 | en | ||
| Smile & squeeze: Dualisme van zelfsturing en aansturing | 2014 | 103 | nl | ||
| Strategic planning for information systems | 2002 | 615 | en |