You find yourself half way between Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro; about as far from Mexico City as from Moscow.

Albert Einstein waits to the left, ready to explain his theory of relativity. A short distance to your right James Watt hopes to recount his development of the steam engine to you. John Steinbeck and Isaac Bashevis Singer crouch over you, vying for your attention.

Your surroundings are conventional and functional. One aspect stands out: A piece of furniture - represented in 2 or 3 specimens in the typical home - recurs here hundreds of times.

What are the two common names for this item of furniture?

It would seem that we may have identified some aspects in this puzzle but this botheres me:

"A piece of furniture ............. recurs here hundreds of times."  And then, if a typical home has 2 or 3 a bookcase may not be the item.

If we are in a library, as we seem to believe, we can discount chairs or seats as the average would have several.

Let us consider benches or tables; in quite a large library there would be many of those and a just a few might be represented in a home.

Posted by brianjn on 2008-05-12 23:53:06