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Monday, July 2, 2012

Books The Book That Can't Wait

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 12:59 PM

Slog tipper Bill points out this bookish blog post from Andrew Sullivan:

The book, "El Libro que No Puede Esperar" (The Book That Can't Wait), comes sealed in a plastic wrapper. Once the wrapper is removed and the book is cracked, the ink begins to age; it's got a lifespan of less than two months. Just months after being opened, The Book That Can't Wait is filled with nothing but blank pages.

This is interesting, but it's not a new idea. William Gibson did this 20 years ago with Agrippa, a book of the dead, which took the form of a poem on a floppy disk that would erase itself after one reading. The floppy disk was published inside an art book that was designed to fade over time. Of course, Agrippa is not entirely gone: You can find a Quicktime emulation of the original floppy disk at this site.

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What happens to the Kindle version?

Posted by yelahneb

on July 2, 2012 at 1:29 PM

Wow. Just...wow. Label them: Books: Now 1000% more wasteful! Weren't happy with dead trees? Now you'll have to cut down more! Take THAT ebooks! We showed you!

Posted by TheRevJester on July 2, 2012 at 1:31 PM

It's not a new idea, there was also Songs for the Deaf from Queens of the Stone Age. I don't think deaf people could hear them at all.

Posted by biffp on July 2, 2012 at 1:40 PM

It certainly own't help new authors gain exposure by readers sharing the book with friends after reading it themselves.

Posted by AynSavoy

on July 2, 2012 at 1:43 PM

It is interesting, but incredibly pretentious..

Posted by ferret

on July 2, 2012 at 1:45 PM

HOLY SHIT PAUL

I've been looking for Agrippa for a decade! Thank you!

Posted by Digitocalypse on July 2, 2012 at 1:53 PM

This thing.. this thing here is an abomination! If I want a fucking time limit on what I fucking read I go to the fucking LIBRARY! If you're lucky enough that I buy your stupid little fucking book than I fucking own your fucking book and the mutherfucking words in it! If you're worried that you won't get to write a second stupid little fucking book then by-fucking-Jove you should have just went ahead and wrote the first fucking one better! You prescious little fucktards!

Posted by knobtheunicorn on July 2, 2012 at 3:17 PM

i think it's awesome.

Posted by The People on July 2, 2012 at 7:41 PM