The first room downstairs focuses on the sciences, though, being named for our favourite funny "ghost" Will, it must naturally begin with:

Humour, including essays, skits, poems, and books by or about famous humourists, as well as a selection of cartoon art by greats like Gary Larson and Bill Watterson, and of course, collections from The Onion, Mad Magazine, and other vital satire.

Nature begins with Biologues, a collection of essays and autobiographies about the human relationship with land, including authors like Gretel Ehrlich and Thoreau. Being very familiar with such things and respecting the traditional Iowan impulse to recount such tales, we also have a shelf of stories about and studies of Storms and Disasters.

Animals is divided into sections about birds, cats, dogs, horses, and other families of fauna. Here, you'll find pet care guides as well as books about birding and animal-focused naturalism.

There are also books about Ecology and natural history, picture books about nature, and a selection of practical books about Agriculture and Gardening.

In another practical direction, Home Decorating and Improvement carries a selection of technical, trade and how-to manuals as well as books about feng shui and decoration.

Science doesn't just include books about geology, evolution, genetics, physics, chemistry, and other scholarly subjects - it also includes essays by Richard Feynman and Stephen Jay Gould, biographies of scientists, and some fun titles about science bloopers and oddities.

Mathematics isn't just for books about the maths, either - it also includes books of fractal art and books about the problem of 'innumeracy,' among other things.

Games contains primarily game theory and chess, though we also have books about card games, billiards, 'magic' illusions, and more.

Psychology focuses on scholarly work, from books about the impact of Freud and Jung to more recent clinical texts, but also includes personal reflections about depression and other psychological and/or psychiatric conditions, books about the psychological approach to the study of consciousness, and other related topics. Separate sections cover Self-Help and Parenting/Childcare.

Education takes a historical and sociological approach, though we also like to carry a selection of books about teaching techniques. Books of lesson plans and instructional units for school or home educators are in Leiden's Room.

Health and Medicine begins with a section of Reference works, such as medical dictionaries, then proceeds with general books about the history of medicine and current medical issues, Conditions and Treatments, and a section of Narratives on Grief and Illness, such as Gunther's Death Be Not Proud. Our Alternative Medicine section includes guides to herbalism, therapies like acupuncture and reiki, yoga, and non-invasive approaches to health and healing.

We also have sections on Women's Health issues, HIV and AIDS, and Mortality (including books about end-of-life care and options).

Sport, we admit, has a much larger subsection on baseball than on any other sport, but we do carry titles about a range of sports, biographies of famous players or performers, some practical guides to rules and coaching, and Martial Arts, and (look behind you, at the bottom of the Biologues bookcase) a variety of books about outdoorsmanship, backpacking, water sports, fishing, and rock climbing.

At the top of the next bookcase are books about Sexuality and Erotica.

Paganism and Wicca contains both studies of the varieties of modern magick and books of application for practitioners.

Parapsychology and Paranormality cover topics such as alternative perceptions or realities, near-death experiences, close encounters, etc. A separate section deals with Dreams and their interpretation. Divination includes topics such as astrology, numerology, and palm reading.

Sociology includes both scholarly work and social commentary, with additional sections for African American Studies, Amish Studies, Latin American Studies, and Native American Studies, each of which includes biographies, histories, political and sociological works, and some essays or commentaries by prominent authors.

Anthropology focuses on scholarly texts and ethnographies.

Women's Studies includes histories and biographies from the three waves of the women's movement as well as scholarly studies from sociological and literary points of view, and also includes narrative reflections on the movements and their personal, social and spiritual dimensions. Men's Studies focuses primarily on current sociological issues.

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered contains a broad cross-section of work about the history and sociology of the Queer rights movements as well as books about science, literature and legal issues.

Why is it called Will's Room?

One of our favourite 'ghosts,' or people who haunt the shop on a regular basis, is Nialle's brother Will, who (besides being notoriously random and uproariously funny) has an admirable scientific curiosity, particularly with regard to psychology and the biological sciences. Nialle's and Will's mother is an internist, and we suspect we gained a little of our interest in these areas from her... or maybe it was all the back issues of JAMA scattered around our childhood playroom.