Phrontisterion

Phrontisterion is David Walsh’s dream library—the library he’s been fantastising about since before he built Mona, the Museum of Old and New Art.

It houses his large and ever-growing collection of books, rare volumes, maps and manuscripts, and boasts some 50,000 titles in a range of formats, on topics as diverse as ancient brewing methods, the foods of the pharaohs, Antarctic exploration, science fiction, Greek coinage, casinos and charcuterie; alongside African art, statistics, literature, mathematics, betting odds, religion, socialism, sex and—that old chestnut—death. There’s also plenty of art, a children’s library, and excavations through exquisite sandstone.

Instead of the Dewey decimal system, Phrontisterion has the O. Use it to find out about the books and other bibliophilic paraphernalia on display. The O knows where everything is in the library, no matter where things have been put back on the shelves. Let it chart you a course through the collection, linking books—by association, theme or obscure whim—as webpages hyperlink ideas.