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Chopping up books when they're physically too big

attainablefelicity.mattkirkland.com

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Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#41

Post by davisr »

SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #8
davisr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I chop my books and read them on my reMarkable tablet. It really doesn't get any better. https://www.davisr.me/projects/books/

That's cool and all, but I generally prefer my text reflowable, and find PDF reading on any not-huge e-reader to be a pain in the ass. It's worth it for things that are rich in figures and formatting (like House of Leaves, many textbooks, comics and manga, etc), but for the typical novel or non-fiction book, I really do want just text and the most minimal formatting and layout instructions possible, so I can configur…

You must have forgotten the point of this thread was about chopping books.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#42

Post by mrec »

starkparker wrote: post #39

One of the more unintentional "reject modernity, embrace tradition" posts on this site. In a world where this catches on someone will come up with the bright idea of serialized novels again. It's like a payment plan for a book! More watercooler moments waiting for the next volume! Authors incorporating fan feedback between volumes! Imagine all the Dickensian possibilities.

Plenty of webfiction out there which is exactly this. It does tend to fall into the trap of going on forever though.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#43

Post by GolfPopper »

juiceland wrote: post #34

If the gutter is wide enough, you can have them rebound with spiral binding. This is incredible useful for holding or putting a book flat. I did this to all my textbooks in college.

This is probably just a personal quirk, but I despise spiral bindings. I hate the feel of them. They never hold together. They catch on everything and come apart. Pages get torn far more easily. They make the books - if you can even call spiral-bound stacks if paper that - more difficult to organize. They suck.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#44

Post by phoronixrly »

madewithdrama wrote: post #32

Nice comment section. Is it necessary to bring up ebooks whenever print books are mentioned? I haven't heard a worthwhile opinion on the matter in at least 15 years. Anyways, cool post.

No, it's necessary only when the alternative is to mutilate the print edition...

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#45

Post by shevy-java »

That advice makes no sense.

In fact - many old huge books are epic. I remember in the early 1990s we had a huge book about history. It detailed each year with the most important events. I loved reading in it. Even today I like it.

Unfortunately I am also now part of the digital-only guys, so I have not bought a hardcopy paper books in quite a while (excluding one exception for Raymond Feist, but by and large I only read .pdf files nowadays). So I store things in .pdf files mostly. I also hate .epub files and refuse to use them.

I still have many old books here, but new books rarely come up and I only keep books I find interesting or important or I may re-read. For instance I have one small hardcopy of 1984; I think it is an important book. And a few more like that. But I barely have any new paper books.

I don't presently have any really huge book. Not sure what I will do should I inherit huge books. On the one hand, having them is kind of cool, but I don't want to keep them in a library or shelf either, so ... I will probably not use it. But I would not chop up any book, not even on a first april. It just seems totally pointless and also defeats the point of having huge books. Huge books are kind of cool. Not practical but cool.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#46

Post by moffkalast »

SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #4

At that rate, you might as well buy and use an e-reader instead. It really doesn't get any more comfortable in the hands than a light device like a Kobo or whatever one you prefer.

And you don't even have to hold it open and mess with bookmarks which at least to me was always super annoying. And the built in lamp, chapter search and dictionary. And single tap page forward and back. Physical books are beyond obsolete imho.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#48

Post by bluGill »

GolfPopper wrote: post #43
juiceland wrote: post #34

If the gutter is wide enough, you can have them rebound with spiral binding. This is incredible useful for holding or putting a book flat. I did this to all my textbooks in college.

This is probably just a personal quirk, but I despise spiral bindings. I hate the feel of them. They never hold together. They catch on everything and come apart. Pages get torn far more easily. They make the books - if you can even call spiral-bound stacks if paper that - more difficult to organize. They suck.

I hate my non-spiral bound music books - they never sit well on a music stand. However for all other books I agree, spiral sucks.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#49

Post by bluGill »

mrec wrote: post #42
starkparker wrote: post #39

One of the more unintentional "reject modernity, embrace tradition" posts on this site. In a world where this catches on someone will come up with the bright idea of serialized novels again. It's like a payment plan for a book! More watercooler moments waiting for the next volume! Authors incorporating fan feedback between volumes! Imagine all the Dickensian possibilities.

Plenty of webfiction out there which is exactly this. It does tend to fall into the trap of going on forever though.

There is a lot of web fiction out there that would be better if the authors had written "the end" a few years ago.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#50

Post by shevy-java »

NoahZuniga wrote: post #30
spudlyo wrote: post #20

This seems like a lot of work for not a huge payoff. I get that the feel and experience of a physical book has a certain nostalgia, but for me, I'd just leave the big monster on the shelf and grab an epub from Anna's Archive. You have already ensured the author and publisher get paid, you might as well read on an e-reader, which is in my opinion superior in nearly every way to a physical book. Ebooks sync across devi…

This post isn't aimed at people that read a physical book for "nostalgia". They read a lot of books and have already decided that they prefer physical books to an ereader.

That makes no sense to me though. I always prefer physical books to any ereader, but I still stopped accumulating (new) books in my flat - they just accumulate space. I'll always love hardcopy books, but not needing them as a physical hardcopy is just better for me.
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