# English Books/German Books Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235 "2011-10-20T12:21:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/1 "2011-10-20T12:21:06Z")
Hi, I noticed something about books what made me wonder, I have German and English books, if I have an English book laying on it’s back, I can read the title on it’s small side just right, I mean to say that the letters are the right side up(like my writing). If I have a German book, the writing is upside down. Why is it different? Thanks:) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/2 "2011-10-20T12:29:13Z")
The usual take on this is [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding#Spine\_orientation](http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding#Spine_orientation). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/3 "2011-10-20T12:43:49Z")
One http too many, Mops. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding#Spine\_orientation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding#Spine_orientation) The explanation is under Spine Titling and seems to amount to “it’s customary”. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/4 "2011-10-20T12:48:33Z")
That is one thing that bugged me no end during my days of putting up books on the shelves in a public library. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/5 "2011-10-20T14:30:17Z")
Even worse is that it’s not done consistently: some English and German publishers put the title across the width, instead of along the length; some English publishers put the title along the other way (from bottom to top), some German publishers put the title the other way (top to bottom). And yes, in a bookstore or library, this means the titles all run in all directions. In my own shelves, I put the titles all in one direction (left) because I find it more comfortable to tilt my head that way, although some of the books stand on their head. But this doesn’t bother me and doesn’t harm the books. If the publishers would ever listen to librarians (fat chance of that!) then all titles will run in one direction for latin-alphabet languages. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/6 "2011-10-20T14:37:54Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > In my own shelves, I put the titles all in one direction… But this … doesn’t harm the books. Not physically, but all the juicy parts of the stories will wind up running out onto the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-books-german-books-titles/600235/7 "2011-10-20T15:12:28Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > If the publishers would ever listen to librarians (fat chance of that!) … That is what I usually say about the general layout of books, but if they did it, we specialised cataloguers would have nothing to do.