The Oracle

Let the shelves choose for you

Answer five questions and the Oracle draws one book from our shelves, with two more beside it. Every book it draws is in stock.

Draw a book

Or ask a question

Ask a book a question

Bibliomancy is the old practice of opening a book for an answer. Type what is on your mind and the Oracle answers with a passage from Marcus Aurelius, Emerson, Hafiz or Rumi. One question at a time; plain words work best.

Your question stays in your browser. It is not saved or sent anywhere.

Bookshelf of Ideas

Or start with an idea

Eight shelves, each built around one big question, from Hidden Knowledge to Lost Civilisations.

Browse the eight shelves

Subject index

Or browse by subject

Every subject on the shelves, A to Z, with the books in stock and the subjects that sit beside each one.

Open the subject index

The passages come from public-domain editions: The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, translated by George Long (1862); Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841); Poems from the Divan of Hafiz, translated by Gertrude Bell (1897); and Rumi, The Mesnevi, translated by James Redhouse (1881).