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."
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."
- 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
Thats why the farmers almanac has a hole in the corner, to put it on a string in the outhouse.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
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.
What use to sane adults have for a water-proof book?
I can think of several uses to this kind of technology. Cookbooks for one always get things spilled on them.
I am an avid book collector. I like the classics besides several newer books out. They don't have to print all new books with this new technology, just a few for the collectors. I have a series of books that are out of print, and the ones I can get a hold of to finish my collection are trashed. With these books I wouldn't have the same problem with finding a book in good condition (of books in print right now, of course).
Other things these books are good for:
There are times I read in the tub to relax.
There are times my 2 year old gets hold of my books with a crayon. (with a plastic book, you could possibly just wipe it off)
There are times when I eat while reading and end up with unintended greasy fingerprints.
These books could last a long time and not be subject to the hazards of paper books. Of course, it wouldn't be practical to print all books on plastic (not to mention the environmental hazards)
But I can see printing special editions for fans and collectors of these virtually indestructable books.
.. 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.
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.
It's not like we cut down old growth to make paper, at this point paper is all (or almost all) made from trees grown for the purpose. Then you do get into the issues of soil depletion and erosion, and they are real issues, but you didn't even raise them. Actually, a great deal of low-quality paper (such as that found in paperback books) is actually a "wood byproduct", meaning it's made out of sawdust.
Plastic is cool stuff, it's good for a lot of things, but I think the actual point here is to make a more versatile book. There have been relatively few advances in book technology in the last hundred years, I think that's a fairly safe statement. Printing has come a long way, and book binding I am sure is cheaper and more efficient but what we have is basically a bunch of paper glued together, and the e-book which doesn't even do all the things a paper book does yet, a totally different approach to the same basic problem which nonetheless has plenty of shortcomings.
The primary point is (I hope) to make a waterproof book. Any benefits from the fact that it happens to be made out of plastic are, I think, incidental. If not, it's a solution looking for a problem, and not quite finding one.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
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.