Shelf life. . .and death.

Last month, Alison Morris, a blogger for Publisher's Weekly's "Shelftalker" and a senior editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, wrote a terrific essay about woodworkers who build bookcases that can double as coffins.

I came across Morris's essay because friends sent it to me. Yup, friends. Plural. They insist this was a coincidence. They insist they were not in cahoots. Moreover, they both claim that they were not making a comment on either my age or the state of the paper book.

The irony, of...