To wonder why all the 'WFH' COVID experts, journalists, MPs etc are filmed with bookshelves behind...

[Dances]

I mean really, in MN terms, it's a book boast

Doing Bookshelf Bingo now

Definitely a boast or a deliberate staging. We angle webcams to blank corners.

Haha! I said this do my DH this morning

Some are probably desperately hitting Amazon Prime and grabbing their drills and hammers.

Don't most people (who have a home office) have their technical books in their office near the computer? I do.

Some might do this but I'm sceptical that most could be arsed.

I was oogling Mary Beard's very fine collection earlier!

Because they read. I'm a lecturer if you saw my background there would be lots of books. Scientists read. Unfortunately books need to be stored somewhere and it's usually in an office. They also tend to be books you keep and re read unlike trashy novels.

Rather a bookshelf than an unmade bed or a cluttered kitchen counter.
I'm a book lover - show me your books 😁👍

Because it's too hot for a lit fire?

I am a homeworker permanently, and have one of the bedrooms as my office. I keep all my work related reference books (tons) on the shelves on the opposite side of the room from my desk, so they’re in easy reach. So when I open my laptop to join a video call, they’re my background. Never even thought about what people would think about it! Most of my colleagues have the same setup so it’s fairly standard.

They think it makes 'em look clever.

They are in their offices. What else do you expect? People who say this sound like people who don5 have loads of books. I find these people deeply suspicious. Why don’t they have books?

We have backdrops we can put on during virtual calls. It avoids people seeing personal settings, husbands in towels, children pulling faces and suchlike.
I imagine they have likewise.

My calls have bookshelves in view because it's the only place I can get quiet but they are v lowbrow - I was actually a bit when I realised.

Think Judith Krantz, Jilly Cooper and Dean Koontz rather than Foucault and Sartre.

I'd leave my kindle in shot.

I've been working from home for a year. I don't like my back facing the door so changed my desk position and it just so happens that my bookcases are behind me. I like books so I will assume it's the same for them!

Casino- in every room, bookshelves on every wall?

I have large bookshelves. I have lots of books. I also have many walls free of bookshelves. So why are all the experts on full book display?

I am not any kind of expert, well not in anything useful enough to be asked to go on telly, but if I was then my bookshelves would be my background too, that is just how my room is arranged. I think it’s quite common isn’t it?

Lisa Nandy's book loft had me drooling on Question Time!

I love a good neb at the books, I need to get my nebbing fix from somewhere since the lack of school runs has cut off my supply of gardens to neb at.

Adds gravitas, dunnit?

I'm loving it. A little glimpse into people homes!
My uni lecturers have been uploading content that they've recorded at home and it's fascinating seeing their bookshelves! I can't believe how messy some of them are 😂

Well most people who are experts are going to have a study/office and that’s where they’ll keep their books. I’m not an expert but I have a study with books in on three walls and the desk is on the fourth so yes there are books in view.

Lots of people have lots of books, it’s not boastful. It’s very usual.

Wouldn't have the same clever points if they had the 64inch flat screen in the background.

They are probably cardboard pictures of books and shelves, to hide the typical mess in my some people's houses.

Home office or a room that is temporarily being used as one. My least used room is a dining room where all the bookshelves are, so that is where I would be.

It is very much 'look at my books cos I am dead clever'

It's just amusing