Since writing my article Zoom Meeting Backgrounds: A Glimpse Into The Lives Of Others, I’ve come across several other articles on a similar theme. There is even a Twitter account called Bookcase Credibility, whose aim is to rate people’s bookshelves in Zoom etc!

If you think the books on your shelves are too embarrassing, too political, too high-brow, too low-brow, or unsuitable in any other way, you might consider acquiring book covers (without the books they were intended to cover), and put them over your own books!

I have two excellent sources for this idea. First, in Mad Magazine, back in the 60s, there was a feature about Mad book covers. These were fake covers you could wrap around your books in to make you appear more literate.

For example, one of them had Catch 22 in huge letters. When you looked more closely, what the cover actually said was:

“If my father catches me reading this book I’ll catch 22 klops round the head!”

My second source for this excellent idea is Stephen Potter’s One Upmanship. In a section entitled “Well readship” (defined as how to appear well read), Potter relates the story of one Coad-Sanderson, who with a mother and stepmother to support, as well as his step mother’s step-children, could afford to buy very few books indeed. One of his method’s was:

“To collect book jackets from a peaceful reviewer, Horton, whom he knows and who helps him. These jackets he wraps round old books so that his library seems to be in a constantly refreshed and up-to-date state.”

So there you are: no need for green screens to display pretend bookshelves, or to buy books specially for the purposes of online display. Just acquire some decent book covers instead!