NationStates Jolt Archive

now I know this will seem blog like, and for that I apologize. but I really do wanna see what people would do.

I just got my nice new page scanner up and running. (ok, it's not new, but no other department wanted it, and instead of tossing it way... )

so. now I am currently scanning in some books that are falling apart. some novels that I read to death and will read again. forever preserving it to be reprinted and read at my leasure. (and for those who will cry "Copyrite infringement", yes, I do OWN the books. and will keep on owning them.)

so the ponderable...

I have some books that are NOT on the verge of falling apart, but are out of print (or extremely hard to find.) good books that I wanna keep, but not valuable ones. (no, I don't have a genuine autographed copy of the complete works of shakespeare. :p )

but to scan them would result in destroying the spine and thus cause it to start on the downward spiral of destruction...

would you destroy a book to save it?

Few books are beyond repair. You just need to spend the few bucks and get it rebound.

Few books are beyond repair. You just need to spend the few bucks and get it rebound.

paperbacks?

and we are talking about yellowing pages that are near brittle with age.

those can be repaired as well?

Pft. Real men re-scribe each volume with quill pens.

For those of us who can't attain such lofty heights of manhood, I suppose it may be worth the risk to scan them. I'm old-school though, and prefer to read with book in hand.

paperbacks?

and we are talking about yellowing pages that are near brittle with age.

those can be repaired as well?

Yes, it's totally ok to destroy a book to save the content - you can scan the cover as well or make your own lovely little covers - up to you la - you can always print them out to read if you're more comfortable with that

paperbacks?

and we are talking about yellowing pages that are near brittle with age.

those can be repaired as well?

Maybe. Might want to ask around your local library. I've seen some really terribly aging books at mine that were rebound and readable after an inventory. Those were hardbacks from the 1890s, but paperbacks may be possible too.

Pft. Real men re-scribe each volume with quill pens.

I tried that once. It really strains the eyes. I thought I was going blind for a while there.

As most people have said, rebound them. It's a waste to just destroy them, especially if you like them. It would be like killing yourself because you've grown old.

Pft. Real men re-scribe each volume with quill pens. *snaps fingers* that's it.

but no quills... but we do have some Peacocks at the zoo...

*dashes off*

No! no scanny! Scanny bad for books. Love the books. Don't hurt them. :(

Retype the books. Not only do you get to find all the sentences you've misread all those times, but you also find every typo in the book.

Pft. Real men re-scribe each volume with quill pens.

For those of us who can't attain such lofty heights of manhood, I suppose it may be worth the risk to scan them. I'm old-school though, and prefer to read with book in hand.
:eek: That is old school!

now I know this will seem blog like, and for that I apologize. but I really do wanna see what people would do.

I just got my nice new page scanner up and running. (ok, it's not new, but no other department wanted it, and instead of tossing it way... )

so. now I am currently scanning in some books that are falling apart. some novels that I read to death and will read again. forever preserving it to be reprinted and read at my leasure. (and for those who will cry "Copyrite infringement", yes, I do OWN the books. and will keep on owning them.)

so the ponderable...

I have some books that are NOT on the verge of falling apart, but are out of print (or extremely hard to find.) good books that I wanna keep, but not valuable ones. (no, I don't have a genuine autographed copy of the complete works of shakespeare. :p )

but to scan them would result in destroying the spine and thus cause it to start on the downward spiral of destruction...

would you destroy a book to save it?

Personally, I wouldn't. But that's mostly due to me loving books in codex form, and I feel that having a book in digital form is not quite the same.
Being a librarian, I'm use to giving first aid to books, and as a result I don't have any that are falling apart.
The only problem that I have it the acidity of the paper, I can see how it slowly destroys some of my books (so far, they're only turning yellow, not falling apart yet)... I haven't figured out what to do about that yet.
It's possible to fix the problem mechanically, but we're talking about 25 Euros per page here. And I'd have to send it to Germany, as the only place in the world where you can get hat fixed is in Leipzig. Seems a lot of effort for a fw novels...

I would if I felt the database was steady. If it was the last copy, for sure... Hell no.

i don't know if there is such a thing as acid free paper paper that will run through your printer or printers that will run it without jamming. i haven't looked into that but it sounds worth doing so in the context the o.p. describes.

i would also, in that case, consider investing in home bindery equipment and skill in its use.

yes, these are the same risks any super detailing modler faces when disassembling a brass craftsman type model that he or she just paid three to five times what anything other then the labour of love that went into creating is worth.

but they also seem to be the only known way to get from point a to point b.

i think the deciding factor is the probability of the individual completing the project and their ability to do so well.

i would definately consider practicing on what they consider least valuable first.

vertualy all commercialy bound books NEED better bindings then commercial production, sometimes quite good itself, can provide.

anyone who has handled a well done had rebinding knows what i'm talking about. plus of course, as with any craft project, is the pride in a job well done. but that does take accumulated skill. and THAT does, take practice.
and can't really be expected to come out perfect, first time, every time.

i can't speak from an experience i don't have. but i would consider hand binding 'blank books' of acid free paper as a prepitory exercise.

=^^=
.../\...

Get a handheld scanner so you don't break the spine?

Get the text of the book tattooed on your chest in such a way that you can read it in the mirror.

No, no, no!

Tattoo it upsidedown! That way you only need to look down instead of having a mirror swallow your soul!

No, no, no!

Tattoo it upsidedown! That way you only need to look down instead of having a mirror swallow your soul!

Ah, but looking down at your chest would hurt your neck. And everyone knows you need your neck more than your soul.

Pft. Real men re-scribe each volume with quill pens.

Pft. You kids today. In MY day, we had to chisel our books into stone tablets and we LIKED it! Of course, we didn't have your fancy "English", we had to invent our OWN written language! And we LIKED it!

Of course, that was assuming the Earth had cooled off enough for the stone to cool and harden. Otherwise, the molten rock would burn our hands. But, we LIKED that too!

Now get off my lawn!

No, no, no!

Tattoo it upsidedown! That way you only need to look down instead of having a mirror swallow your soul!but then... I'd need to shave my chest won't I?

Pft. You kids today. In MY day, we had to chisel our books into stone tablets and we LIKED it! Of course, we didn't have your fancy "English", we had to invent our OWN written language! And we LIKED it!

Of course, that was assuming the Earth had cooled off enough for the stone to cool and harden. Otherwise, the molten rock would burn our hands. But, we LIKED that too!

Now get off my lawn!
>.>

<.<

Why do you think I've been band from Kinko's... :(
their attendants kept getting hernias from lifting the tablets to the scanners.

Pft. You kids today. In MY day, we had to chisel our books into stone tablets and we LIKED it! Of course, we didn't have your fancy "English", we had to invent our OWN written language! And we LIKED it!

Of course, that was assuming the Earth had cooled off enough for the stone to cool and harden. Otherwise, the molten rock would burn our hands. But, we LIKED that too!

Now get off my lawn!

Old-timers. :rolleyes:

but then... I'd need to shave my chest won't I?


Oh, you could get laser hair removal, and then get the lasers to burn the book onto your chest. Two birds with one blast!