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."
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
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.
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?
The problem is that the process is typically much more expensive than making regular paper. Also, I haven't used this new stuff, but the old techniques produce very thick stock. The kind I use is actually made from tightly weaved textiles and laminates. This makes it okay for a 40 page technical notebook, but somewhat unweildy for larger volumes. You won't see anyone making "flood-proof" books on a large scale any time soon. They would be awfully heavy, bulky, and expensive. It would honestly just be cheaper to buy a second copy after the first one is destroyed.
V
Actually these books can be reprinted on again and again. My guess is they'll come up with standard sizes for them so formatting doesn't become an issue if a different publisher wants to buy their blank books.
:) Everything in moderation. (Just a joke for those fanatical people out there....)
The book Crade to Cradle is already printed on this material. (Search Amazon or BN for it) The biggest negative it will run in to is that it's significantly heavier then normal paper books. Depending upon your reading position that may just cause increased strain on your hands, wrists, and arms in general.
Even if the plastic is worse for the environment over time we might as well diversify our pollution.
Google, link 3. Sometimes it is more intelligent than Anonymous Cowards.
Which is surprising, since it's only a few million lines of code.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC