Slashdot Mirror
Waterproof Books
Ant sent in a bit about new Water proof books. From the article "The new dunkable books are made not from trees, but from plastic resins and inorganic fibers. Melcher Media, a New York-based publisher, is promoting books that are manufactured using a technology it calls "Durabooks." The books' pages don't absorb water, and they stretch instead of tearing. Other companies make waterproof books with standard wood-based paper that is heavily laminated in the printing process."
What's the over/under on Uncle John's Bathroom Reader using this new technology first?
Cutting down trees is bad for the environment and all, but trees can be replanted. Wouldn't plastic resins and inorganic fibers be worse?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Let me guess... they'll next be applying this to make magazines more resistant to various bodily fluids!
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those that understand binary and those that do not.
This is meant for toddlers, right?
What use to sane adults have for a water-proof book?
So much for the "dead tree" edition...
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
Looks like there could be a big market for this in porn mags and bathroom reading materials...
What exactly is the POINT of a waterproof book? Is it so that you can read your book while you're eating/in the pool? Or for disaster recovery? What practical use is there for a waterproof book? If it's for disaster recovery, how many people care about their books enough that they would be like, "Oh no! My house was flooded! But at least I still have my wonderful books..."
Also, sometimes it's good to just stick with the classics...now instead of paper, we have this inorganic stuff...when you go into a library, you experience the smell of all the old books. With this new stuff, goodbye Old Book Scent!
will my silly putty still work the same way on the technical drawings in my cs books?
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
We'll be reading the dead oil well version
What this can do to Porn Mags!!!
This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
The good news is that we're going to have today's classics last a whole lot longer in their original form. The bad news is that we're going to have today's crap books last a whole lot longer in their original form.
boldly going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse
The Modern Science of Mental Hygeine. Just what we need.
I imagine that this would have application for Military field use.
They said that wine permanently stains the book (I'll assume it's red wine).
Annnnnndddd..... on a different note...
Q: What did the grape do when it was stepped on?
A: It let out a little whine.
Thanks, I'll be here all week!
"If you masturbate in the bathtub, that's part of the idea -- even though it doesn't say it in the promotional material," Mohanraj said. "If you get distracted, it's not so bad to drop the book in the bathtub."
This product should do well on slashdot. Thinkgeek, how about it?
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
I have to read a lot for academic purposes. First I read for college, then grad school and now just to keep up with my profession. Waterproof books sounds great if you want to sell your books back at the end of the year to the school bookstore. I wonder how these books fare to those like me who do a lot of underlining, note taking and highlighting! This technology should be saved for the magazines you get on the plane in the seat pouch so the people who read them before you can't destroy them!
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
In most cases, there probably isn't a good ROI on releasing the "plastic-back"s. But these types of books might work well:
Sex - Find It
Don't forget currency. Plastic currency, as the Australians have, is quite durable. And you can swim with it in your pockets!
with a real paper book you could always use the pages you've read as emergency arse wipe
- can be produced from cheap (although toxic), non oil-related chemicals
- can (sometimes) be utterly destroyed to basic molecules by a simple (again) chemical spray
- can, often, be reusable.
Crude Oil...
- should have been digged for the start in profit for electricity based motor, and hydrogen cells
- pollutes (No ? Really?)
- Is a boon on some VERY lucrative business that thinks nothing of bribes, destruction or political instabilities to achieve their goals (no direct attacks, they ALL do it), while electricity can be produced almost anywhere on the planet today using green sources.
Plastics, as you know them today, are mostly polymers.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
I've been swashdotted -- Elmer Fudd
1. Books are a declining phenomenon, so this new technology is irrelevant
a. Computer technology has nearly rendered books obsolete
i. E-books, electronic text, and the ease of creating HTML pages has changed information transfer, storage, and downloading/processing forever
b. No one gets a lot of fluids on magazines, books, or any print.
i. This all seems like a fix for something that's not broken
c. The only folks who still read books are not the type who have to worry about ruining them with spilled milk, bathtub water, or any other liquid substance
Thats why the farmers almanac has a hole in the corner, to put it on a string in the outhouse.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Why is it that I feel I am the only person that cringes whenever a new plastic product is released? Bear with me here: I'm not a vegetarian, I don't belong to any save-the-whatever clubs (tho maybe I should), and I drink from my share of plastic coke bottles; but I try to recycle them, recycle my shopping bags, etc.
BUT I realize that some day, all this plastic will catch up with us. Take these new Saran (?) cutting sheets. Use them, then just throw them away. I HATE that phrase. It's morally repugnant to me. Use, then RECYCLE!!!! Anybody who can take pride in using something, then "throw[ing] it away" is really, really ignorant. Would you feel right about using something, then throwing it in a pile in your back yard, pretending you'll never have to deal with it? Every time you throw away something made of plastic or metal or anything else non-biodegradable, you are demonstrating your ignorance. I do it, you do it, we all do it sometimes. Asking for a total change is unreasonable and unrealistic. But trying to recycle more and more is the way to go. And new plastic products are inexcusable that are explicitly suggested to just be thrown away, and reprehensible.
Of course. Pr0n is the catalyst.
Examples:
VHS: easily distributed pr0n.
Business over the web: pr0n sites.
CD-ROM: easily disseminated pr0n from said sites.
And now, waterproof magazines: Wank-proof pages = fewer ruined magazines.
Waterproof keyboards: no sticky keys!
It's rather prevalent in the modern society(>mid70's) that pr0n is the first or one of the first things transferred in the new medium.
I will now redundantly add my name to the end of my post. You know, in case you forgot me or something.
is to make a book that can be recycled indefinitely, unlike paper, which can only make it one or two times through the recycling process. See the Slashdot review of the book that started this idea: Cradle to Cradle.
"It remains to be seen if the human brain is powerful enough to solve the problems it has created." Dr. Richard Wallace
the porn mag that can also be used as a prophylactic! Isn't this incredible folks?
But wait, there's more. Order now and you'll also receive this free ginsu knife....
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
You paddle back to where it is floating, and pick it up, none the worse for the wear.
Rapidweather's Linux Screenshots.
Half the time they just dump the plastic from the recycle bins in the landfill with all the other garbage. Seriously. People want a 'plastic recycling program'. It costs too much to actually recycle so...
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
Hikers' and climbers' guide books are perfect candidates. I'd pay extra for one, especially since the pages sound more durable than plain paper. Even if it never gets wet it should last much longer.
Another petroleum-based product. Whenever people think about our dependency on foreign oil, they talk about cars and gaas mileage, but noone ever mentions the bazillions of plastics and polymers that wouldn't exist without a constant supply of petroleum.
They have 'fake' wood now. It doesn't look that much like plastic, and it can be cut/drilled/etc. just like real wood for the most part.
;)
Now they're doing something similar for books, eh?
I'm not sure how to feel. On one hand, I love the feeling of real paper. On the other, this would surely stop book burning whackos, as we could just sick the eco-nuts on them for releasing toxins and such.
So...are they talking the "Oh-face" dropping of the book or the "OHMYGODWHATAREYOUDOINGINHERE?!?!" dropping of the book?
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
I doubt the material has they staying power of acid free paper, which can last for hundreds of years with proper storage. Likely anything printed on this new material will be lost in a few decades.
I would love to see this on travel guides, books with maps on them, and service manuals for cars.
The last one assumes it can handle a little grease as well.
--T
http://www.theMediaBunker.com
Sweet, this means my Penthouse mags wont be sticky anymore! weeee!
Slashdot has already reviewed a Durabook. Which, BTW, is recyclable just the same as milk jugs and yogurt containers.? sid=02/06/03/ 1245253&mode=thread&tid=134
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl
From the article:
The Durabooks technology allows for another way to tire your hand while taking a bath with an erotica book. "If you masturbate in the bathtub, that's part of the idea -- even though it doesn't say it in the promotional material," Mohanraj said. "If you get distracted, it's not so bad to drop the book in the bathtub." Mohanraj said the book's pages withstand not only bath water, but also bodily fluids and sex oils. Wine, however, will stain the pages.
I'm not even going to sully this visual with my own commentary.
My
Limekiller
Sounds like this "paper" which is mostly plastic. http://www.hp.ca/catalog/supplies/supplies_details .php?sku=Q1298A&LANGUAGE=en
Lots of lab equipment suppliers sell waterproof lab notebooks made from polyproplyene paper. I bought a ream of the loose stuff several years ago that I cut into small squares and use as labels on bottles that might get wet on storage in freezers. The paper looks like the pulp-based stuff, but you can't feed it throught a laser printer or copier or it will melt on the hot roller.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
They just need to get better.
When I was a little kid I thought about this (when you're a little kid and have to take baths because you're not big enough to use the shower? right.) Why not make a waterproof book, so you can read in the tub?
But seriously. Books are not on their way out, by any means. I know tablet PC's and PDAs are improving so that maybe someday everyone will curl up with a good book electronically, but not everyone wants to do that. The feel of a book, the texture of the paper, its portability and durability is just something that not a lot of people can match with an electronic text source. Argue as you will--portable electronic devices are just not that widespread yet.
I read a fascinating book by Neal Gershenfeld, "When Things Start to Think". It's about not just making cool new technology--it's about making that technology more accessible, less daunting, making computers serve you instead of you serving computers. He proposed an interesting idea--why not make an actual book computer? People are familiar with the book's interface. Those who have problems reading text on a monitor would have no difficulty with the familiar ink-on-paper interface.
Picture this: start with a durable cover of some sort, maybe tough molded plastic (with LEDs. I like LEDs.) Insert inside this cover enough pages of membrane to make it heft and feel like a book. This membrane is textured to look and feel like paper, and is almost as thin, but it's not paper. Think "really thin electronically controlled Magna-doodle."
Particles (like toner particles) can be controlled with electromagnets to form text on the "pages." You could download entire copies of classics and have the "book" display them--just like a normal book. And you wouldn't even need some 1200 pages to read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy--you could have maybe only 50 pages, and have the text "cycle" so that once you're done with the first 50 pages, the next 50 appear on the same pages.
You could even edit the text as you see it with a pen or keyboard interface. For in-the-dark perusal the pages could be backlit or another lighting source could be part of the book.
I think this is a fabulously cool idea. Say what you will about electronic text--the book isn't going anywhere soon, and why not augment it with the power we already have?
Just my $0.02 USD.
Angry IT woman in big clompy boots. And talking lint!.
Yay! I can FINALLY read books in the shower... seriously... don't you usually read in dry environments? Is spilled-drink insurance really worth it?
It makes me think of the movie "Lost In Space"
WEST
Every schoolchild knows our recycling technologies will save the environment. Sending a family across the galaxy is a publicity stunt to sell soda to people of all ages.
GENERAL
What I am about to tell you is classified. Every schoolchild has been lied to. The recycling technologies have failed. In less than two decades Earth will be unable to support human life.
Books are great, but what I want is a bathtop computer.
Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
Just because you do not read books doesn't mean there's about a zillion who does... Books are excellent. If you want tips, check out Aldous Huxley: Brave New World or George Orwell: 1984 or Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451. All those gems are now more relevant than ever!
I'd rather have one good book than 10 lousy sites with information which won't be there after 4 months, with information which is obscured with banners, with information which can change at will without a trace. Electronic information has its place, yes, but until we have all material currently in print available in electronic form, and we get "permanent" storage (which lasts over 400 years), books will not be going away. YMMW.
But still, plastic books: well, maybe for some special occasion.
Oh, goody, more reasons to be dependent on oil. What, you thought those plastic resins came from the plastic resin fairy? Nope. AFAIK (and I could be very wrong) those resins come out of the ground in the form of crude oil.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I'll put my iPod in a Ziplock. The last 5 books I've 'read' were on my iPod (dl'ed from from audible.com)
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Vanderbilt University Library's rare books collection used to have a copy of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 printed on asbestos . I don't know if they still have it as they probably threw it away in the current asbestos hysteria. It was there in 1977 anyway.
I just read the article and it seems to miss the whole point of a Durabook. Waterproofness is more of a side benefit rather than a major selling point. The real advantage to these books is that they are totally recyclable. Not recyclable in the way that most plastics are, being "down cycled" until they hit the landfill, but directly recyclable back into the same product, a true recycle process.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
About 7 months ago I did a book review for Slashdot of Cradle to Cradle by McDonough and Braungart. I believe it was the first commercially released book in this format by Melcher. (First sentence of the book: "This book is not a tree.")
I've had a number of experiences with this stuff over the years. Really cool stuff, but it doesn't act the way one thinks it should.
One can't use pencils to write on it, it needs to be carved into from a pen. This means that inkjet printers do not work with this. It is made entirely of plastic, so photocopying/laser printing is impossible.
The material is actually wicked strong, very high tensile strength and very ductile, but it is not impossible to tear. When it is torn, one can see multiple layers of material. The top layer is somewhat like a white powder, more of a matting that is anti-gloss that is used to repel the water. The next layer down is a glossy plastic. This is where the writing is adhered to, as well this layer is very thin. The final layer is a thick layer of plastic, used to make this paper very hard to tear and waterproof.
A few interesting uses of this paper, if written on and covered in water, then let to dry on something the ink will bleed onto the other item. This allows photocoping of items onto objects around the house. This is not a good thing at most times, when the book is drying out, it had better not be touching anything or the other pages because the pages could swap ink.
Kids love this stuff. They don't care what is on the paper, if you give them a sheet they will play with is for hours on end. (And if you have ever tried to keep a kid entertained for more than 8 minutes, yoou know how great this is) They love to get it wet, and see it dry in seconds. They like to try and tear it, since their fingers are not strong enough or smart enough to try a small tear and build on it, they just bend the plastic.
This stuff is great, but does has its drawbacks. It is an awful lot like paper, but is hard to print on using normal printing techinques. Doesn't fold well, and is quite expensive. The ink tends to bleed if not stored properly, and due to the nature of the paper people love to try and break it either by soaking it or by tearing it. A few good points on the paper: very strong, waterproof, great entertainment, and one can't discount the wow factor of being able to dunk paper under water.
Sure the pages will be more durable, but will the binding last any longer? If the binding was good, I would love plastic pages for some of my often read books, that I am always replacing due to broken spines, and dog-eared pages getting ripped.
-Nothing hides evidence like a stew. -Gus Pratt
People have been doing this with topo maps for years. And they use recycled milk cartons for the plastic. So it is better for the environment than paper maps. Not much new here.
Great. I see two problems. My books will have odd stretch marks making text funky.
My second hand textbooks will be intentionally stretched as pranks by their prior owners.
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
I suspect that this will do wonders for those who read in the bathroom. Now, if you drop your book into the tub or the toilet, your book won't be destroyed. Of course, not knowing how much more this would cost than paper makes it difficult to say how widespread it would be. (Yeah, yeah, rtfa... I know. Kinda hard when it's down.)
More likely, this will find its way into industrial manuals, so as to prevent damage in paper-hazardous environments.
That green slime had it coming.
Why plastic... why not just make E-Books. you can fit a book on a CD (which uses minimal plastic), or download from the Web to your HD.. EBooks are great, they are searchable, printable, and fit in a small space, and have minimal environmental impact to manufacture. I think plastic books are retarded... Gutenburg is dead people... time to move on to the electronic revolution, we are still stuck in the industrial revolution.
That 'old sent' is from the books rotting... heh
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I'm picturing one of those baby books with the rattle and mini-horn built right into the page....
Does it really feel like a paper book? Or a toy?
Was a room-mate of mine when she edited that first anthology (Aqua Erotica). She does most of her work online and has quite the full web page here and talks about this book here. Note that she says "So far, I've had reports that the book is not proof against wine or beer, but stands up well to urine."
Also note that this is erotica, not porn. The pictures are more artful than explicit. It generally appeals more to women than men.
Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
Seeing as we've sold about two of these per month in the last couple of years, I'd hardly call this a revolution in publishing. Really, it just seems like another gimmick.
With all the hoopla over e-books and print-on-demand books, both of which are better and more innovative ideas than the aqua book, they represent a small fraction of what people actually buy. I happen to prefer computer books in the electronic format, such as the O'Reilly bookshelves, but I'm in the distinct minority. Most people have a definite preference for the dead tree version, and thats something I don't see changing for a long time.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
Espectly for Text books that dont go out of date often. School books take a lot of abuse by student even Colege Students. Depending of fasion or stupid schools rules students cary multable books by there hands all days and they are those rainy days dropping into puddles. Or with back packs in a rush being put in the pack in the wrong way terring a page. Spilt Soda-Pop (Pick one of those words for your location) on the book during studieing and homework. With those books taking all this abuse and with them being able to take the abuse allows the books to be used for more year and for college students giving them a higher resale value at the end of the semester.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The point of waterproof books is so that you can read in the bathtub. Or read in the rain at a bus stop. You can keep textbooks for schoolchildren for more years. Durability, durability, durability. And that old book scent is mostly dust mites. While
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
Even if the conditon is 'like new', I'm still not buying someone's old edition of 'Aqua Erotica: 18 Stories for a Steamy Bath'...
.. my first thought was for "field guides" for the natural sciences. I have had a life long interest in wildcrafting and survival/preparedness issues, and durable waterproof books would be a *really good thing* for those subjects. Paper based books are too wussy and delicate for field use, and the semi-waterproof alternatives are very $pendy right now.
E-Books are a lot less waterproof.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Cool. Hope it catches on. I'm fond of reading computer programming texts while in the bathtub.
How do you print on this stuff? Printing on a core sheet and then laminating or coating it has been used for decades, and that's no problem. Printing on the surface of plastic is hard. Most plastic containers have paper labels. Come up with a high-speed, good-quality process for printing on plastics and the packaging industry will rush to your door.
You mean they have things inside them?
How do you cut through the Lucite shell?
Comics too?
Amazing!
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
Waterproof books--the pyromaniacs' friend >=)
I don't know about anyone else, but I write in my books with pencil, pen, and highlighter to mark important sections, etc. This waterproof book would make that much, much harder to do unless I used a permanent marker. Though there are certainly some speciality applications for this -- I'm sure that mariners will love that their shipboard library is much safer -- just what's the purpose of a waterproof book anyway? For the general public, that is. (Of course, I'm sure all the numbnuts that have made posts about pr0n will have to reply.)
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Whitewater river guide books have been available in waterproof editions for at least a couple decades, for reasons that folks with "keyboard disability" may have difficulty understanding... Get enough reality and you won't have to jerk off to get some sleep.
records then cassettes then cds then audio dvds...
vhs then dvd...
Finally they came up with a new format to make us buy all of our books over again.
I remember hearing about this in Japan a while ago. An English work book was printed on this stuff and came with a grease pencil so that you could do your school work in the bathtub.
It may cost twice as much, but now I can study in the bathtub...
Rocky J. Squirrel
Mohanraj said the book's pages withstand not only bath water, but also bodily fluids and sex oils. Wine, however, will stain the pages.
what good is a bathtub jerk if I can't enjoy a glass of wine during it?
Mohanraj said the book's pages withstand not only bath water, but also bodily fluids and sex oils. Wine, however, will stain the pages.
So they're not really stain-resistant; I imagine other things will stain the pages while cooking. It looks like these were made with one principle purpose, and it wasn't cooking. (Note that one of the books in the article is an erotica collection).
Presumably a plastic book would be coffee-proof, mud-puddle-proof, and spaghetti-sauce-proof, as well. If you can't see the use of a book like this, then you're obviously not as clumsy as I am.
So true.....
I've heard a lot of people post about uses in very dirty environments (autoshops, airplane hangers, etc), but another use I know of is scuba diving. Specifically, technical divers will bring paperback books with them so the have something to pass the time during decompression stops, which can last 4 hours or more. Paperback books work fine but only one-way: they bring em down, and read them underwater while tearing out and tossing pages as they read. But once you bring them to the surface, the book is useless- the thin paper is impossible to separate.
Now, I don't see a large market out there just for tech divers. But there could be some very handy things for everyday divers, for which there's a large market.
J
Talk to any military or police sniper, and ask to see their rifle data/log book (they ALL have one. If they don't, you are probably talking to a wanna-be). Odds are, it'll be printed on waterproof paper.
Check out this website if you really MUST have one of your very own: Check the store/accessories section
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Even back in the 1980's the military was using Tyvek from DuPont for important operating manuals. Really tough stuff, stain resistant and tough to tear.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
I work in a bookstore, and the Aqua Erotica books mentioned in the article have sold very well for us. When the books first arrived this summer, we at the store thought the whole concept of having a water-proof book was interesting and decided to test it out. We took a small round fishbowl and filled it with water, submerging the book inside. This was left on the counter right in front of the register, and resulted in many impulse buys. The buyers tended to be owners of pools, hottubs, or the kind of people who spend a lot of time in the tub. Now we have another series of waterproof books on display, and these are scaled and shaped like a bar of soap, so they fit right into the soap dish in your tub.
I think that the waterproof book idea has the potential to really take off. I wouldn't be suprised to see that populist paperback fare known as "beach books" being offered in waterproof form in a few years. Not the entire printing, but waterproof books might fill a niche with a size and scope comperable to that of large-print books.
The aircraft checklists I've been using for the last few years are no longer printed on paper, rather a material that sounds just like this. It can be written on, is slightly flame resistant, is water and oil resistant, and it tears/cuts like plastic (stretches unless you cut it first.)
We've probably saved a few million bucks going to this stuff in addition to saving trees and not having to buy hundreds of thousands of plastic page protectors that we used to need. Except for not being able to use it for toilet paper in extreme cases of airborn intestinal distress (ewww), I haven't found any drawbacks to the stuff.
They're going to have to make up a new word to describe what happens to crap novels that don't sell. They can no longer "pulp" 200,000 copies of Mills and Boon, no-one buys that crap anymore.. instead they'd have to be "depolymerised"? -Doesn't really have the same ring to it does it? :)
I love to read and I love to soak in the hot tub. This is a wonderful thing. You can't really relax with a good book when you're afraid that too much relaxation will result in a dunked, icky book.
I can't wait to get all my fave penny-dreadfuls in this format.
Water is only one type of disaster. These books are not safe from fire http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2558655.stm
- Cradle to Cradle
by William McDonough:"This material is not only waterproof, extremely durable, and (in many localities) recyclable by conventional means; it is also a prototype for the book as a 'technical nutrient,' that is, a product that can be broken down and circulated infinitely in idustrial cycles-- made and remade as 'paper' or other products. [...] It represents one step toward a radically different approach to designing and producing the objects we use and enjoy, an emerging movement we see as the next industrial revolution."
"Here's a tale of three books.
The first is familiar. It is about five inches by eight, compact, and pleasant to hold. Dark ink makes a crisp impression on the creamy paper. It has a colorful jacket and a sturdy cardboard cover. In many respects, it is an intelligently conceived object, designed--as were its very similar predecessors, hundreds of years ago--with portability and durability in mind. Hundreds of users may check it out of the library. They take it to bed, on the train, to the beach.
Yet attractive, functional, and durable as it is, the book will not last forever--nor, if it is "beach reading," do we nessesarily expect it to. What happens when it is discarded? The paper came from trees, so natural diversity and soils have already been depleted to keep us in reading matter. Paper is biodegradable, but the inks that printed so crisply on the paper and created the striking image on the jacket contain carbon black and heavy metals. The jacket is not really paper, but an amalgam of materials--wood pulp, polymers, and coatings, as well as inks, heavy metals, and halogenated hydrocarbons. It cannot be safely composted, and if it is burned, it produces dioxins, some of the most dangerous cancer-causing material ever created by humans.
Enter book number two. It too is rather familiar to contemporary eyes. It has the usual book shape and format, but the paper--a dull beige-- is thin and porous. It has no jacket, and the cover, like the inside, is printed in a single shade of ink. It may seem a little drab, but it has a humble, "earth-friendly" look that is instantly recognizable to the environmentally minded. And indeed the book is a product of a concerted attempt to be eco-efficient [note: this term is explained earlier as being the equivelent of "less bad", and is used in near-contempt]. It is printed on recycled paper--hence the beige--with soy-based inks. In addition, its designers strove to "dematerialize," to use less of everything; witness the thin, uncoated text stock and the absence of a jacket. Unfortunately, the ink shows through the flimsy paper, and tthe lack of contrast between ink and page strains the eyes. The skimpy binding is a little weak to boot. The book isn't exactly reader-friendly-- Good thing it's eco-friendly.
Or is it?
Its designers thought long and hard about what kind of paper to use; every choice had drawbacks. Initially they thought chlorine-free paper might be a good way to go, because they knew that chlorine presents a serious problem for ecosystems and human health (by creating dioxins, for example). But they discovered that totally chlorine-free paper required virgin pulp, because any recycled paper in the mix would already have been bleached. In fact, paper made from any kind of wood pulp probably contains some chlorine, because chlorinated salt occurs naturally in trees. What a quandary: pollute rivers or chew up forests. They ended up choosing paper with the greatest recycled content, avoiding what to their minds would be a greater offense. Soy-based inks posed another dilemma, because they might include halogenated hydrocarbons or other toxins that become bioavailable in these water-soluble eco-friendly inks than they would be in conventional solvent-based inks. For acceptable durability, the cover was coated, so it isn't recyclable with the rest of the book, and because of it's already high recycled content, the paper's fibers have about reached the limits of further use. Once again, being less bad proves to be a fairly unappealing option, practically, aesthetically, and environmentally.
Imagine if we were to rethink the entire concept of a book, considering not only the practicalities of manufacture and use but the pleasures that might be brought to both. Enter book three, the book of the future.
Is it an electronic book? Perhaps--that form is still in its infancy. Or perhaps it takes another form as yet unimagined by us. But many people find the form of the traditional book both convenient and delightful. What if we reconceived not the shape of the object but the materials of which it is made, in the context of its relationship to the natural world? How could it be a boon to both people and the enviroment?
We might begin by considering whether paper itself is the proper vehicle for reading matter. Is it fitting to write our history on the skin of fish with the blood of bears, to echo writer Margaret Atwood? Let's imagine a book that is not a tree. It is not even paper. Instead, it is made of plastics developed around a completely different paradigm for materials, polymers that are infinitely recyclable at the same level of quality--that have been designed with their future life formost in mind, rather than as an awkward afterthought. This "paper" doesn't require cutting down trees or leaching chlorine into waterways. The inks are nontoxic and can be washed off the polymer with a simple and safe chemical process or an extremely hot water bath, from either of which they can be recovered and reused. The cover is made from a heavier grade of the same polymer as the rest of the book, and the glues are made of compatible ingrediants, so that once the materials are no longer needed in their present form, the entire book can be reclaimed by the publishing industry in a simple one-step process.
Nor is the readers pleasure and convenience an afterthought to environmentally responsible design. The pages are white and have a sensuous smoothness, and unlike recycled paper, they will not yellow with age. The ink won't rub off on the reader's fingers. Although its next life has already been imagined, this book is durable enough to last for many generations. It's even waterproof, so you can read it not as a badge of austerity--and not only for its content--but for its sheer tactile pleasure. It celebrates its materials rather than apologizing for them. Books become books become books over and over again, each incarnation a sparkling new vehicle for fresh images and ideas. Form follows not just function but the evolution of the medium itself, in an endlessly propagating spirit of the printed word.
The assignment that leads to the design of this book is to tell a story within the very molocules of its pages. Not the old tale of damage and despair, but one of abundance and renewal, human creativity and possibility. And although the book you hold in your hands is not yet that book, it is a step in that direction, a beginning to the story.
We did not design this book. After years of analyzing and testing polymers to replace paper, we were delighted when designer Janine James happened to mention our search to Charlie Melcher of Melcher Media."
You guys don't seem to get the whole "this will not generate non-biodegradable waste" thing. Tree-based books cannot be "recycled", only "downcycled" to the point of uselessness. Plastics can be truely "recycled" infinitely. This is why tree-based paper is ALWAYS going to harm the environment.
When I was young I had one of these. It was plastic with styrofoam sealed inside. I could bring it in the bathtub and read about stories with very small words.
After a few years the plastic cracked and it got all moldy inside.
Environmentalists should be in favor of plastics replacing paper and pulp (and anything made of wood)
Here's why:
1) CO2, which comes mainly from fossil-fuel consumption is the leading anthropogenic greenhouse gas.
2) It is clear that every oil field will eventually be exploited, and every bit of that oil will either go into fuel or plastic. There aren't really that many other options. If it goes into fuel, it will eventually be converted into CO2 and contribute to global warming. But if it is used intstead to create some solid plastic object, it will eventually find its way into a landfill, where it will be safely stored for many many years, and where it can never be used as a fuel. And, since plastics are largely inert and non-toxic, this isn't any kind of real environmental problem. It may be an asthetic problem, but that's another issue.
So, in summary, more plastics means less CO2, and less greenhouse effect. Not to mention fewer chopped-down trees.
MM
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Who else immeditly clicked the link to Aqua Erotica?
Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
This will never get accepted because of all the dioxins released during book burning conventions.
Excellent points, which I also posted in other places. I'd mod you up if I could.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Did anyone knew that here in Mexico the government is using a new type of bills?... they're made of "polymer" (plastic).
They're nice, clean and they don't get wet =)
My goal right now is to have a bunch of e-books which are on CD-ROMs; lugging around half a dozen huge case-logic carriers of CD-ROMs is much easier than lugging around a couple of bookshelves of books.
- Sam
The secret to enjoying Slashdot is to realize that it should not be taken too seriously.
I don't know about other countries, but here in New Zealand all the money is a kind of plastic. It doesn't rip, doesn't get damaged when it gets wet, etc. Is this the same sort of material?
waterproof toilet paper?
Some countries are moving twards water proof money bills.
Makes forgery much more difficult,
and the longer lifetime (up to 4 times) and cleanness are really cool.
Make 'em fire proof
CD's are waterproof... only sunlight really destroyes them. It is the devices that read them that need to be made waterproof. YOu could easlily construct a device that is waterproof to read a book, howerver I don't think the point of these plastic books is the ability to read them in the shower.. I think of more like the ability to survive a rainstorm in a soaked school bag, something which an E-book on CD is capable of doing.. I can see for a diver how a plastic pocket guide book might be usefull, but that is a very small market, and if you can make a pocket waterproof PDA this might be more usefull and more compact for divers.. I say for the average person CD's are still better ideas..
How would this work for money bills?
From what I read, the current paper in Euro bills can stand being accidentally left in a pocket while washing clothes, so maybe it's not needed.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Shopping at this grody little computer store at the Galleria for a
totally awwwesome Apple. Fer suuure. I mean Apples are nice you know?
But, you know, there is this cute guy who works there and HE says that
VAX's are cooler! I mean I don't really know, you know? He says that he
has this totally tubular VAX at home and it's stuffed with memory-to-the-max!
Right, yeah. And he wants to take me home to show it to me. Oh My God!
I'm suuure. Gag me with a Prime!
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