{"id":36719,"date":"2025-12-08T23:23:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T23:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/little-free-library-divinations-searching-for-the-meaning-of-life-in-discarded-books-and-found-objects\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T23:23:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T23:23:29","slug":"little-free-library-divinations-searching-for-the-meaning-of-life-in-discarded-books-and-found-objects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/little-free-library-divinations-searching-for-the-meaning-of-life-in-discarded-books-and-found-objects\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Free Library Divinations: Searching for the Meaning of Life in Discarded Books and Found Objects"},"content":{"rendered":"

The son of a Wisconsin schoolteacher, Todd Bol<\/a> was well into his fifties when he dreamt up the first Little Free Library<\/a>, not expecting that tens of thousands of these tiny shrines to the love of reading would sprout around the world<\/a> to outlive him. <\/p>\n

I was visiting a friend on the other side of the continent when I encountered a Little Free Library for the first time. I fell in love instantly. Years passed. I kept thinking about it. As soon as I moved into my Brooklyn home in the autumn of 2018, I put one up in front of my house, painted it yellow, and left a few well-loved books inside. <\/p>\n

That week, Todd Bol died. <\/p>\n

In the years since, in our community of artists and low-income families with kids, nowhere near a bookstore, with only an understocked and overrun public library branch to suffice, I have watched my Little Free Library bustle with books given and taken, spanning the entire spectrum of genres, eras, and sensibilities.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A day in the life of my Little Free Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One day during a challenging season of being, longing for something that would turn my spiraling mind outward, knowing that a daily creative practice has always been my best medicine and that constraint is the mightiest catalyst of creativity, I decided to try applying my bird divination process<\/a> to the Little Free Library, trusting the lovely way our imagination has of surprising us and, in doing so, reminding us that even in the bleakest moments it is worth turning the page of experience because the imagination of life is always greater than that of the living<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every day for thirty days, I took a random book from the Little Free Library, opened to a random page, and worked with the text on it, making no aesthetic judgments about the literary value of the books \u2014 self-help, airport romance novels, finance textbooks, breastfeeding guides, Lemony Snicket, Tolstoy, Ayn Rand, Harry Potter<\/em>, and the Bible were all raw material on equal par. <\/p>\n

As every creative person knows, and as Lewis Carroll so perfectly articulated in his advice on working through difficulty<\/a> in math and in life, our most original and unexpected ideas arrive not when we strain the mind at the problem, but when we relax it and shift the beam of attention to something else entirely; it is then that the unconscious shines its sidewise gleam on an unexpected solution no deliberate effort could have produced. <\/p>\n

After reading over the page, I would take a long walk to let the words float in my mind as I knelt to look at small things \u2014 pebbles, petals, leaves, feathers, and a whole lot of that great teacher in resilience<\/a>, lichen \u2014 picking one thing up to take home. The words invariably arranged themselves unconsciously into the day\u2019s\u2026 divination? koan? poem?\u2026 that always surprised me, always revealed what I myself needed to hear that some part of me already knew. <\/p>\n

Upon returning home, I would place the found object under my microscope and take a photograph \u2014 cellular and planetary at the same time, itself an invitation to a shift in perspective \u2014 then begin laying out the text over the image.<\/p>\n

Here they all are \u2014 perhaps uncommon gifts for the book-lover in your life, perhaps simply inspiration to try the practice yourself \u2014 available as translucent 4\u00d74 blocks<\/a> with proceeds supporting my endeavor to put up Little Free Libraries in book deserts throughout the five boroughs of New York City \u2014 communities more than a mile from a public library or bookstore. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Ever After<\/em> by Nora Roberts over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The Decline of Pleasure<\/em> by Walter Kerr over micrograph of mica from my hometown in Bulgaria. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The Daughter of the Queen of Sheba<\/em> by Jacki Lyden over micrograph of maple leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in It Ends with Us<\/em> by Colleen Hoover over micrograph of woodpecker feather. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Homo Viator<\/em> by Gabriel Marcel over micrograph of bluejay feather. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Bee Season<\/em> by Myla Goldberg over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in the Bible over micrograph of the season\u2019s last fig from the neighborhood tree. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Squeeze<\/em> by Steven J. Pipe over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Vita: The Life of Vita Sackville-West<\/em> by Victoria Glendinning over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Stuff White People Like<\/em> by Christian Lander over micrograph of paperback birch leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.Words from a page in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Words from a page in Room<\/em> by Emma Donoghue over micrograph of red cedar needle. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Outliers<\/em> by Malcolm Gladwell over micrograph of smokebush leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Naked<\/em> by David Sedaris over micrograph of mica from Coney Island beach. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Mountains<\/em> by John Cleare over micrograph of ginkgo leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The Life of Chuck<\/em> by Stephen King over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Reflections on Language<\/em> by Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Herschberg over micrograph of withered trillium leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Inside of a Dog<\/em> by Alexandra Horowitz over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Scarpetta<\/em> by Patricia Cornwell over micrograph of smokebush leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in House of Incest<\/em> by Ana\u00efs Nin over micrograph of Japanese maple leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone<\/em> by J.K. Rowling over micrograph of smokebush leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure<\/em> by James West Davidson and John Rugge over micrograph of spirea leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Freak of Nurture<\/em> by Kelli Dunham over micrograph of maple leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Dark Fires<\/em> by Nora Roberts over micrograph of madrone bark. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Words from a page in Conversations with God<\/em> by Neale Donald Walsch over micrograph of dying ficus leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The Changing World Order<\/em> by Ray Dalio over micrograph of popcorn. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Becoming a Person<\/em> by Carl R. Rogers over micrograph of bluebird feather. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in Atlas Shrugged<\/em> by Ayn Rand over micrograph of calendula from my grandmother\u2019s garden. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in A Series of Unfortunate Events<\/em> by Lemony Snicket over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The Arc<\/em> by Tory Henwood Hoen over micrograph of lichen. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in All Adults Here<\/em> by Emma Straub over micrograph of ginkgo leaf. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The House of the Spirits<\/em> by Isabel Allende over micrograph of staghorn sumac bloom. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Words from a page in The Girls<\/em> by Emma Cline over micrograph of wild persimmon seed. Available as an acrylic block<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

donating = loving<\/h3>\n

For seventeen years, I have been spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each month composing The Marginalian<\/em> (which bore the outgrown name Brain Pickings<\/em><\/a> for its first fifteen years). It has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, no assistant \u2014 a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor makes your own life more livable in any way, please consider lending a helping hand with a donation<\/a>. Your support makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

\n

newsletter<\/h3>\n

The Marginalian<\/em> has a free weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week\u2019s most inspiring reading. Here\u2019s what to expect<\/a>. Like? Sign up.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The son of a Wisconsin schoolteacher, Todd Bol was well into his fifties when he dreamt up the first Little Free Library, not expecting that tens of thousands of these tiny shrines to the love of reading would sprout around the world to outlive him. I was visiting a friend on the other side of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-life"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 14:46:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}