We have thousands of trashy thrillers from the 1950s and 60s delivered every week. They've already failed to sell in charity shops and we're the last resort before the great pulping machine.
This wonderful website has found a very novel (no pun intended) use for old paperbacks:
Genius!You couldn't do this with a Kindle, could you?
Couldn't do this with a Kindle either - http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-book-surgeon-15-pieces
ReplyDeleteWow! They are incredible. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteDon't pulp them! They're wonderful! Where's your shop?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid we don't have a shop. We're an internet bookseller and I work in an office above a large warehouse.
ReplyDeleteNow, that's clever, as is your post title.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME!
ReplyDeleteNot only could I not do that with a Kindle, I couldn't do it with real books either. No talent. Those are amazing images.
ReplyDeleteLoving this, thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteWow! I am all for highlighting things you can't do with a Kindle. Both the images in the post and those on the page Mrs Jones linked to are wonderful. Thanks to both of you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, enjoying it. Thanks Mrs Jones, enjoying your link too.
ReplyDeleteWell I wasn't expecting that. Some of the images were eerie- the arm reaching out of the page.
ReplyDeleteIn your profile you said you were a bookseller in Lewes. I had visions of a bookshop in some old building where you can browse to your hearts content. Ah well nevermind....
Sorry to disappoint you Poteroo. I worked in real bookshops for many years, but I much prefer my current job, where my customers are often thousands of miles away and I no longer have to work weekends ;)
ReplyDeleteAnother site unsuitable for Kindles: http://www.etsy.com/shop/rebounddesigns
ReplyDeleteCamilla
:)
I enjoy your writing so much, and I understand a book lover (who hasn't tried an e-ink e-reader) wanting to take pot shots at Kindle and the like... but really, it need not be either/or, no matter how some wish to hype it.
ReplyDeleteI love books. I love reading a little bit more, though, so I enjoy my Kindle, too. It lets me read more books than I can ever fit on my (already stuffed) shelves. It lets me take thousands of those books on vacation. It lets me annotate the books without ruining them. It reads to me when I'm tired. The e-ink lives up to its promises; the device disappears; I read more than I ever did before, which I didn't think was possible.
But I still love books. Pretty books, funky books, books I must lend to everyone, books that look just like the ones I lost long ago, books at wonderful prices, used and new.
Is it so inconceivable to so fully enjoy both? I don't mind if people don't like the Kindle (or Nook, or Literati, or Kobo, or whatever). Nothing suits everyone. I even understand how tempting it is to lead the backlash against the idiots who seem to be excited with the ridiculous notion that Kindles will eradicate books.
But then I read some of the comments and asides on other posts here, comments which seem to come from nice people, but from nice people who don't seem to have ever actually used a Kindle. It's just as ignorant and irritating.
We're all readers. I've never met a Kindle-user who looks forward to an end to print. Having an e-reader is just something more. The sooner we end the parroting of this stupid X vs. Y sensationalism, the sooner we can shape the co-existence we want and deserve.
A good point and well-argued Anon - I always like to hear the counter-argument.
ReplyDeleteI'm not completely anti-Kindle. I love the idea of being able to download thousands of out of copyright classics and if I was a train commuter, I'd strongly consider buying one.
My only worry is that instead of a healthy pluralism, we will see the demise of the traditional book, brought about by people who see e-books as a way of improving the bottom line.
I can understand why Amazon are pushing the Kindle so aggressively. To use that annoying phrase, it's a "no-brainer", with no warehousing, packing or postage costs. I also agree that the message is usually more important than the medium.
But Amazon's e-book goldrush might be shortlived, as illegal downloading threatens the publishing and bookselling industry too and if that happens, perhaps paper will seem more attractive again.
I know that I'm being a bit of a Luddite, but I love the organic feel of a book, the visual attraction of the cover deisgn and, sometimes but not always, the smell.
Camilla - thanks for the link. Another stunning selection of novel things to do with a book. I'm full of admiration for the creativity behind these beautiful objects.
Wonderful stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow about selling them in job lots of 20 to people who collect lurid old book covers? (There must be others...)
ReplyDeleteOr is there an online gallery somewhere?
If not, why not?
Fabulous! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the long pro Kindle comment is Anonymous. I read somewhere a while back that Amaz*n were organising pro comments on negative blogs. Probably just my paranoia though. Top pictures.
ReplyDeleteRichmonde - great minds think alike. We're setting up an Etsy site to sell some of the covers and illustrations to artists and craftspeople.
ReplyDeleteJonathan - I can believe it. I thought that the comments in response to your excellent Bookseller piece were unnecessarily rude and offensive (apart from that very nice chap "Good Trading - he seems like a good sort)".
http://www.humument.com/ for a classic of book decomstruction.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, I hadn't even seen it. The Bookseller didn't bother telling me that they had posted it. You're right, I ought to buy that Good Trading fellow a drink sometime.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful. I think I used to have the David and Goliath book as a child. The illustration looks very familiar.
ReplyDelete