This installation, by artist Matej Kren, is in the lobby of the Municipal Library in Prague.

Glancing over the edge, down into what looked like an infinite vortex of books, I felt something stir within me. I don’t know what, exactly. It was kind of emotional: something about all that I’ve read, a lifelong love of books. I had vivid recollections of my grandma reading The Iron Giant to me in bed, as a four or five year old.

I like to think of myself as a pretty hard-headed, rational thinker. But humans aren’t emotionless robots (or homo economicus, as my textbooks would have me believe). I think it may come across in this blog sometimes that I purely view humanity as conduits translating inputs into creative output, disregarding our feelings and weaknesses. I don’t.

We’ve got to leave yourself room to feel, to be moved. As the incredible…