Soporte Libro Pulgar

The name is Spanish for a thumb book support, and that is precisely the object: the little ring-and-paddle reading aid a reader slips onto one thumb so a paperback can be read one-handed. It is one of the most-printed household gadgets there is, and it lives wherever books do — a bedside table, a commuter bag, the arm of a reading chair, the kitchen shelf where a battered recipe book gets propped open. As a piece of design it is quietly clever. A loop for the thumb, a flared paddle shaped to rest against the open page, no moving parts and nothing to wear out. Makers have been refining the shape for years and it has settled into something close to a standard. It is the sort of thing you print several of: one for yourself, one for whoever keeps borrowing yours, and a handful for a book group or a school library.