I'm sorry, but book carving is obscene vandalism. Please stop.

I loved the film and I was moved by how Rachel's creative talent is revealed after her death... but the most poignant moments of the film were ruined for me. As he opened the first desecrated book I shouted aloud --- "Oh God! Not this!" --- and every one thereafter was a sad "No!"

Yes I encountered it on reddit and buzzfeed and I'm sure it's considered avant garde these days to violently deface these things. I've even visited the websites of artists who do this (to ask Why?? but I didn't) and one of them responded to someone's criticism of the medium by assuring us that she only uses second hand books, or some such. What more could she say?

I've even seen some Japanese art of this genre that is carved from blank sheets of paper bound together and I can tell you, it is breathtaking to behold. There are even artists who order vinyl blanks from record companies for canvases.

But something crass and ugly is happening today in the art and deco world. Old pianos are becoming fountains, old violins become planters and it's all trumped in the Etsy/Pinterest/Buzzfeed world as art. I would never tolerate such things in my own home; and yet, I admit I'm not in a position to adopt these things like stray animals, especially if they are broken or worn out.

But it's happening to books too, and vinyl phonograph records --- which were clearly readable and playable up to the minute the 'artist' laid hands on them. Pinterest uses the trendy new word upcycling to describe the process of taking an object and rendering it into something else. Like turning a playable phonograph record into a bowl.

Planet of the Apes.

We are experiencing a crisis now, where massive collections of old books and phonograph records are not finding proper homes. It's easy to assume that all worthwhile books and music worth listening to has been transcribed to digital format... but how can one be sure? Are your Kindle books really secure? I fear that the physical destruction of older mediums of communication is presently accelerating faster than new readers or listeners who might appreciate them emerge. These tastes often skip one or two generations, but what will be left for the next? Just like oil or coal in the ground, our print libraries (personal and institutional) comprise a 'strategic reserve' of culture that could survive a catastrophe that might render digital works inaccessible. Many things never made it to digital, or are held for ransom at a high price in digital form by publishers who are more like ticket scalpers, to result in zero 'buys', then oblivion. This is not progress.

Art should exalt itself by standing on its own merit, not emerging from other art that was deliberately destroyed. Such is the essence of vandalism.