A Garden Book-Themed Charging Station

One of the coolest ways we've seen nature and technology intersect, the book dock, or "booksi" was created by Southern California-based Rich Neeley, who married a voracious reader. "My wife has loved books since she learned to read, so we had vintage books as centerpieces at our wedding," he says. "Afterwards, we had a lot left over and I was looking for a good way to repurpose them in our house." 

Neeley made a book dock for himself, created a few more as a hobby and now builds booksi stations full-time. Custom made for various generations of iPhones, iPods and iPads, booksi docks use vintage and new books found everywhere from garage sales and thrift stores to boxes on curbs. "A lot of the vintage books we use have been discarded, are missing pages or have broken bindings," Neeley says. "Some also have old library stamps on them, which is awesome."

Apps may have made garden books obsolete, but booksi docks give them an indefinite shelf life.