When books are cast off the shelves and into oblivion, they lose their place in the world, no longer required for library duty, becoming unwelcome guests in bookstores and household collections. Rather than heading straight for the rubbish bin, more than 40,000 reclaimed books have been ingeniously used to build an outdoor library, sown with mushrooms. Created as part of the 11th International Garden Festival in Métis, the unusual garden is a haven for bookworms in Quebec. Christened Jardin de la Connaissance (the Garden of Knowledge), the design explores the cultural links between knowledge and nature. As the books yield to the elements, their withering pages become a breeding ground for new life, with an array of mushroom varieties sprouting from the pages.
