I don't want to seem snarky, but that first picture you have there, the one of a collection of books where I have to tilt my head to read them and that book on the left is called "Design of Everyday Things" and talks about designing things so that ... for instance... people don't have to tilt their heads to read them.
Why don't you rotate that picture, 90 degrees counter-clockwise?
I can think of a few reasons why it might be like that: to lead the reader into the article; to provide context of a library; to fit with the visual flow. Easy to criticise (especially on the grounds of efficiency) more interesting to critique... which is why many of these books are worth reading. Every wonder why the design of everyday computers are designed to keep us so stationary?
Why don't you rotate that picture, 90 degrees counter-clockwise?