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Unshelved reader Scott Plutchak reports:

A while back my wife bought me one of your Read Irresponsibly t-shirts. I wore it while I was out and about in San Francisco on Saturday and I have NEVER had a shirt get that much attention and create so many smiles – people on the street, a waiter in the restaurant (and not even the waiter for my table), the bartender that evening, etc. So I decided to wear it again yesterday on the travel day home – same thing. The desk clerk when I checked out of my hotel, the flight attendant on the plane, random people in the airport. And the particular thing I love is that everybody who comments on it has a slightly different interpretation of what it means.

The secret origin of that shirt is kind of funny. Our very first piece of merchandise was a Read Responsibly shirt - the result of brainstorming a possible plotline involving beer company sponsoring the library. It sold quite well, but there was always some joker who said, “I read irresponsibly.” So we decided to make a shirt just for them. It turned into one of our all-time bestsellers. Perhaps because, as Scott says, the interpretation is firmly in the mind of the beholder.