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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

#141

Post by joeguilmette »

lolakutty wrote: post #69
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…

>which is in my opinion superior in nearly every way to a physical book. A physical book, you encounter in physical space. Thus has a lot more chance to get read. The ebook, one has to take a device and press some button, before the book has even a chance of getting seen... My ebooks typically get downloaded once, and sits forever unread in some device.. A physical book, I take from a lib and gets read automatically,…

Yes! Yes!!

I have had Kindles since v1. And the pattern was always the same: Read some books and then get to a boring patch in one and stop and then dont read anything for 6-24mo.

When we had my son we decided we wanted to create an environment where he was more likely to make reading a habit (over touchscreen brainrot etc).

We figured the best way to do that would be to:

1. Make sure he saw us reading for pleasure, often. 2. We read to him regularly as a habit. 3. Create spaces ideal for reading. 4. Put books everywhere.

Even before you get to point 4, it’s clear that physical books are just simply the best possible solution.

So I just bought a ton of books, hooked Openclaw up to my Goodreads and had it regularly scan the inventory of local used bookstores, bought some bookcases, and set aside time every morning and evening to read.

And you know what, I’ve never read as much or enjoyed it as much as now. And I attribute it entirely to having a beautiful wall of books next to a nice comfortable chair right in the middle of the living room.

I see my book on my bedside table every day. It’s a book, not another device. Another nice benefit is when people come over we invariably end up standing in front of the book shelf talking about books. And then they often leave with one to borrow.

Physical books have their issues and drawbacks etc but they definitely have changed our family’s life for the better.

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

#142

Post by cantrevealname »

WalterBright wrote: post #94
stronglikedan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with ebooks is that you cannot be 100% certain that you're reading the original text. That can only be preserved in physical copies. That's why the destructive book scanning for AI is such a tragedy. There's already plenty of examples of original texts being surreptitiously revised, and it happens with videos too.

I was shocked to discover that "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie was heavily rewritten by his wife after his death. I had two copies of the book, and sure enough, one was the old version and the other the new. The new one did not withstand scrutiny.

Hacker News' founder Paul Graham also recommends that you read the original version[1]. I'm curious to see examples of what was changed in the revision. I read it myself a long time ago, but I don't know which one it was and wondering if I missed out on the better version.

[1] https://paulgraham.com/startupfaq.html

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

#144

Post by Daz912 »

hamdingers wrote: post #68
bithammerthunde wrote: post #64

Are AI companies trying to poison the search index? Like Boris Johnson did when he had fun times with a model on the campaign bus, then did a bizarre interview when he claimed he made model buses! https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/26/mesmerising...

Or Disney releasing a movie called "Frozen" so that web searches for "Disney Frozen" stopped returning macabre rumors about Walt Disney's possible posthumous cryogenic preservation.

[dead]

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

#145

Post by totetsu »

bithammerthunde wrote: post #64

Are AI companies trying to poison the search index? Like Boris Johnson did when he had fun times with a model on the campaign bus, then did a bizarre interview when he claimed he made model buses! https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/26/mesmerising...

I heard this is a common tactic in news forum discussions too. When you don't want people talking about the substance of the post, then you mention something like how the site is hosted on wix which supports the IDF, and derail the conversation.

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

#146

Post by cgearhart »

20ish years ago I complained to my college roommate that my math book was too big. He asked if I was gonna sell it back, and I said I couldn’t—they had a new edition out, so mine was worthless. Cut it, he said.

It was something I had never considered. Not for a moment. Books were sacred to me. Cut one? Blasphemy.

But he was right. And so I cut it. And it fixed all of my complaints.

What I learned is that some folks have a different mindset; they see the world as something to be shaped around themselves, rather than seeing themselves as something that should be shaped to fit the world. That’s been a useful lesson sometimes.

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

#147

Post by chrismorgan »

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.

Printing is a good constraint against getting too long, both the physical and cost constraints. Though the Harry Potter series in full still managed to reach a million words.

For another comparison, the Bible is around three quarters of a million words, and tends to use special paper (20–40gsm/30–50 micron) so it works in one volume.

Handwriting is also a good idea for encouraging keeping lengths down; typing and dictation make verbosity too easy; and as for LLMs, words are clearly far too cheap there.

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

#148

Post by sleepy_keita »

This is done by default in Japan. Most long books are sold as different volumes, parts, etc. At first I didn't really like it (especially because you'd have to buy both Vol.1 and 2 for the whole thing), but it makes sense if you're going to be bringing books around with you.

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

#149

Post by robocat »

Rendello wrote: post #114
robocat wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, why you want to know the language strongly matters. My natural bent is strongly focused on reading and words. Learning by talking and mimicking is not my strength at all. I suspect that is why I've noticed the pattern that natural mimickers are the ideal language learners (who I would like to emulate). Although my beliefs are incoherent... I want software that starts with substituted latin letters into a Korean…

> My natural bent is strongly focused on reading and words. I wonder what mine is. I feel like I don't take to reading in a foreign language too easily (though I have trouble focusing on reading generally), but I definitely struggle mimicking as well. Some times I really wonder how I learned French at all, I got to my current level of ability quite quickly, though I'm sorely lacking a lot of fundamentals both in writ…

> learned French at all, I got to my current level of ability quite quickly

You probably have some natural ability - or even just drive given your interest. Interests and abilities often hold hands.

The the other major issue with languages is that our teaching methods are rather hit and miss.

This is interesting: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/02/languages.... -- although I cynically worry that he was perhaps rather better at selling himself than doing teaching.

> For Korean, I wouldn't bother with Latin letters. Hangul is simple

I've poorly and unclearly explained the idea sorry. Writing is hard.

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

#150

Post by eszed »

prydt wrote: post #9

I came to a similar realization recently. I used to care so much about how pristine my books looked and then I realized that some of my favorite books I have found in used bookstores are ones which are written all over and have a well-worn feel to them. I now annotate all my books with pencil and also write my name in them. I love seeing a history of who's owned a given book when I open the front cover and see a name…

The few times I've had a chance to have something signed by an author I like, I've deliberately taken along with me an old and well-loved copy of one of their books. I've bought the new one, sure, but it's the old one I'll ask them to sign. I don't even know if I'll like the new one yet! No one has said anything about it, yet, but I kind of hope they notice and appreciate it.
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