Real books are yang, and virtual books (ebooks and anything else read or watched on an electronic screen) are yin. That’s because real books have physical substance and virtual anything....

Taped-together books are those that are inexpertly repaired, using materials that are not designed for book repair: regular transparent tape, packing tape, blue masking tape, duct tape, that sort of thing. The reason a book gets taped together.

I’ve been going to more and more of my clients’ homes and seeing rugs that are obviously new but are designed to look old and faded. Furniture and furnishings that are new but has a “distressed” look has.

Adding to a collection by happenstance is the yin way to do it and targeting specific acquisitions is the yang way—yang being specific and yin being less so. Do remember....

Only twice have I ever been called to homes that had battlements. In each case there was much contention going on: lawsuits, etc. That’s because of the symbolism of being....