Jefferson used for shelving the wooden crates in which his books were shipped from Europe. Others have furniture makers build their shelves, but that works only if you keep up with the purchase of books. The only thing that can drive a collector back to shelving is the difficulty of finding a book when it is stacked several feet high somewhere. Somewhere is the operative word. Many collectors carefully arrange their books according to subject matter and have a cataloging system, but I suspect many others just pile the books higher and higher and enjoy the search, particularly when you discover a book you didn't know you had.
Computers compute at breakneck speeds.
Books slow us down and we, as a society, need to slow down. Richard Rodriquez, an essayist on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, recently commented on the importance of reflection. He is so right. It is not information we need, so much as ideas gained from pondering about things. I often wonder if our nation's leaders didn't do better when transportation was so slow.