Bibliophile's Paradise

Amsterdam is a weird city. But I like it.

One of my favorite parts so far is the Central Library, which the Dude and I visited with mouths agape yesterday upon the recommendation of EJ. It's sleek, modern and so totally well-designed. Like a seal using an iPad.

Here are some facts to make you drool:

• The library has 10 floors, 1200 seats (600 of which have Internet-connected computers) and 2000 parking spaces for bicycles
• The total area is 28,500 square meters
• The Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (Amsterdam Public Library) system has more than 1.7 MILLION books available. 

And now, a photo essay about the way libraries could be in Amrika if we had €80 million to throw at them.

Look at all this glorious light! I could spend all day here... No seriously; I could: the library is open 10 a.m.-10 p.m., seven days a week.

These reading pods are totally conducive to doing your homework in peace. Especially if your homework involves pretending you're in a space pod.

How the Dutch organize their books: guns for murder mysteries, magic hats for fantasies, hearts for romance and giant thumbs hovering over tiny humans for... books about the man keeping you down? [click to enlarge]

That's what she said.

An aerial view of some of the 2,000 bike parking spaces.