Did you know...
The spines of American and British books have lettering that runs from top to bottom, which means you tilt your head to the right to read the titles:
While the spines of (most) Russian books run from bottom to top. Apparently Russians prefer to tilt toward the left when reading bookshelves:
(If you don't know Russian, just trust me -- it's marginally easier to read if you lean left.)
Are you obsessive/observant/bored enough to spot the three exceptions in the English batch? All of them were published overseas, in conjunction with Russian or German archival collections. Incidentally, Germans print their spines the same way Russians do:
(But if you've spotted the pair of Russian exceptions, don't ask. I have NO idea...)
Now, in case you haven't found this cultural publishing quirk interesting yet, consider this:
If you stack a batch of left-leaning books on a table with their covers pointing at the ceiling -- the way most of us stack our books -- you have to stand on your head to read the spines:
Kooky, huh?
