Once I’ve read the darn things it’s not easy to dispose of them again. They lie around, cluttering up the place and gathering dust. If I do manage to sell them or give them away there’s more transport and time involved.

And the reading! They’re usually too heavy, or too floppy, or the print’s too small, or a horrid font, and there’s no way to set my own preferences. Without a built-in backlight it’s hard to read a book in bed — the reading light’s always in the wrong place to see the text clearly.

And then the non-fiction books go out of date, and errors remain uncorrected.

I’ve been listening to radio interview this morning — it’s fascinating stuff and I’d like to know more. The subject of the interview has written a book on the topic, published recently.

I know without even looking that there’s no point wasting time trying to buy this book locally, so head over to Amazon. It’s available now in hardback. Hardback! Why would I want a hardback book? They cost more, weigh more and tend to be larger than paperback. This one’s US$18.48. I can pretty much double that price with shipping to New Zealand.

The paperback won’t be published for several months.

So, how about other editions? I could have it on a Kindle right now. If I were in the US. Kindle hasn’t spread to New Zealand. I have an iPod touch, an iPhone and several computers. I could read it on any one of them, if there were an appropriate edition.

Now I know from my own experience that Amazon isn’t always a reliable source of information about alternative editions ¹, so I go looking. After locating and roaming around the publisher’s site and the book’s own website I discovered a link to an audio edition. That’s not quite what I want, but it may do.

Hopeful, I followed the link, only to find that, incredibly, the MP3 edition is out of stock! Unbelievable! How can an MP3 be out of stock? And, what’s more, it costs more than the hardcover edition. I know there’s voice talent and production processes and all that, but for heaven’s sake, layout, printing and most of the materials and distribution costs don’t come into play.

Books should die. It’s well past time for them to be replaced as a medium. We no longer use stone tablets, papyrus, or scrolls. They had their time and then we moved on to new media.

The time of the book is past. Saving up scads of information to ‘publish’ in a single chunk on sacrificial dead trees is a fossilised concept. The planet can’t afford such a wasteful habit, either.

It’s long past time for authors and publishers / distributors to come up with interesting, viable alternatives to ‘the book’.

We have this new stuff called technology. Let’s find ways to make it work to spread the ideas and information that used to be in books.

Readers come up with excuses: ‘I can’t read off a screen’. Well sure you can; it’s just a matter of practice. ‘I love the smell and feel of a new book.’ Well, I love the feel of a well-designed computer device on which I can read text. I love enlarging the fonts if I need to, and making the screen darker or brighter or more contrasty.

Every technology has both benefits and drawbacks. I think that dead-tree technology has had its centuries. This should be the dawn of a new era in publishing.

¹ It was more than 12 or 18 months before I discovered that there was a PDF version of the book Maria Langer and I wrote, WordPress 2 Visual Quickstart Guide.

In his report Document Management Solutions: What End Users Want, IDC analyst Rishi Ghai found that 60 per cent of [Australian] survey respondents said the number of pages printed or copied in their organisation had increased over the last five years. …

He says the key conclusion is that vendors are failing to convince users of the cost savings, and governance and environmental benefits document management products can deliver to organisations.

[Via : Paperless offices remains elusive dream: IDC - IT Brief - IT Brief.]

There’s some truly dreadful writing in quoted material in the rest of the article, like this:

IDC research suggests that end users’ discontentment with document management solution implementations can escalate very quickly in the absence of visible improvements in the short term. Vendors must work closely with clients to develop realistic service-level agreements and periodically measure and communicate systems performance indicators to avoid dissatisfaction build up.

After reading and re-reading that I think it says something along these lines:

Users quickly become fed up with document management systems if things don’t seem to get better quickly. People who sell the systems should be realistic about what they can do, and show users how they are making a difference.

If document management systems can in fact reduce the amount of paper being wasted, then vendors should get their act together and find ways to encourage users to use them properly. And in plain language!

Papiroflexia (Spanish for “Origami”) is the animated tale of Fred, a skillful paper folder who could shape the world with his hands. Joaquin Baldwin used Photoshop and AfterEffects to create this fanciful animation that may resonate with many of us who would like to mold the human world into one just a little more natural.

[Via : TERRA: The Nature of Our World *Video Podcast*.]

LIFEONTERRA is a collaborative filmspace and laboratory exploring the questions and ideas on the cutting-edge of science and at the farthest horizons of the natural world. …

This is a permanent resource for everyone: fans, educators, students, and anyone who is simply curious about the natural world. We are a worldwide crossroads, a forum for compelling issues, and a stage for the awesome diversity of our planet.

At my favorite local coffee shop, Lorraine gives me shit when I purchase coffee in a paper cup, “You… are not saving the world.”

She’s right. I’m not, and it’s actually worse. Each time I reach for a sip and this sad little corpse of tree flesh greets me with its pathetic weight and palpable sense of Al Gore guilt, I’m lonely.

[Via Rands In Repose: The Coffee Mug Affair.]

He mentions that paper cups affect the taste of the coffee anyway and goes on to talk about more permanent alternatives, such as coffee mugs.

So, how many paper (or plastic) cups do we use each day anyway? Chris Jordan has a photo that shows just a few of the 4 million plastic cups used each day on airline flights in the US, as part of a Ted Talks video. Then he moves on to the 40 million paper cups used in the US each day for beverages. It’s a sculpture, a wall, a mountain.

Artist Chris Jordan shows us an arresting view of what Western culture looks like. His supersized images picture some almost unimaginable statistics — like the astonishing number of paper cups we use every single day.

[Via : Chris Jordan pictures some shocking stats | Video on TED.com.]

The part of his talk that’s specifically about the cups is within the first couple of minutes of the video. But his whole talk is interesting, as he finds graphic ways to demonstrate some of the excess we indulge in as a society.

TerraCycle Eco-Binders. The recycled paper cover boasts at least 75% post-consumer recycled content, and the steel rings are made of 80% recycled material.

ReBinders. These corrugated cardboard (at least 35% post-consumer recycled content) binders are assembled in Seattle by Northwest Center, which provides job services to disabled and disadvantaged people. Not only are the covers 100% recyclable, they are replaceable with new covers!

Greenback Rebinders. Also made by Sustainable Group, these Greenback Rebinders are made of chipboard (56% post-consumer recycled content) — and thus stronger than the regular ReBinders.

[Via BlogHer - Social change, Non-profits & NGOs: Three green binders for recycled organization.]

If you’re in the US and need ring binders how about looking for recycled options?

You’d think anything that could reduce the amount of unnecessary paper would also reduce the whole cost of production and shipping. And you’d think that would be a good thing.

Rowan Simpson wrote about how the New Zealand Telecom Directories didn’t take up a small font change that would have saved a lot of money. Here’s what Rowan writes:

One of the examples [Kris Sowersby] showed was a font he designed for a pitch to Telecom Directories (back in the day before this part of the business was sold).

He came up with a bunch of simple design changes to improve readability and make the millions of bulky directories they print each year more efficient to produce (i.e. less paper, less ink, etc).

… it was designed to make better use of the space.  In fact, it was estimated that they would be able to save between 8% - 15% on every page …

Imagine the total saving that could have been achieved in time by making this simple small change. You’ll have to, because they didn’t go for it.

[Via Rowan Simpson: Little things.]

It’s an idea though: if you’re in the business of producing books, magazines, leaflets or newspapers, is there some small thing you could do that would make a big difference? A change in font or design could be worth your while.

The New Zealand Companies Office is making online filing mandatory (though with exceptions for those who still lack decent Internet connections) — Important changes to the way you do business with the Companies Office:

Here at the Companies Office we are committed to providing the New Zealand business community with sustainable, efficient and cost effective company administration. As part of this commitment, the Companies Office is introducing changes to the way that you do business with us.

From 1 July 2008 it will become mandatory to file certain documents with the Companies Office via our online services.

They are also providing training and support to see people through the transition. Sensible, and efficient!

[Via Xero News: Companies Office promotes online.]

Mind you, you also need plastic, tin foil, glue and other consumables. Try it out and let us know how it turned out.

Be sure to read the comments below the post, especially for some issues about cooking temperatures.

[Via : DIY Cardboard Box Solar Oven | Lifehacker Australia.]

But sometimes books are just tools — we want to look up a fact, discover a technique, make notes, learn something. Often a printed book is not as convenient or efficient as an electronic text where you can use the power of the computer to search for a word or phrase, highlight or annotate the text, copy and paste extracts into a storage file, or click a link to further information.

The next time you’re looking for a textbook, a reference book, and instructional work, think about whether an electronic copy would meet your needs. Publishers don’t always make it easy to find their (legal) ebook versions, but they are often available if you look hard enough.

One immediate advantage is that delivery is instant: purchase and download, the start reading. No waiting for couriers or postal services.

And then, you don’t have to store or dispose of the book: no bookshelves required. Your ebook will likely fit easily, with hundreds of others on a CD, or store it on your computer’s hard drive or an online secure storage service.

As an example of needing to look around, consider the book Maria Langer and I co-wrote: WordPress 2 Visual Quickstart Guide. Buy the easy-to-find print version from Amazon, or buy the ebook from the publisher. Or, join the Safari Online service and read the book online.

Next time you’re thinking of buying a book take a moment to consider: is print the best format for this book for me, or can I do it differently?

Personally I hate the problem of ‘old’ books. I have problems giving them away or selling them, as they are often just not wanted. And I have huge resistance to throwing a book in a bin, whether for recycling or as rubbish.

Dave Balter suggests authors should release their works as ebooks, as a way of testing the market before publishers print copies:

• Authors self-package their book entirely on their own.
• Authors distribute digital copies of their books for free to attract readers and to identify a market. They use self-distribution tools to sell as many books as they can.
• Based on the response, the publisher determines which books to pick up, and pays a licensing and distribution right and uses their relationships to distribute a product that has developed an initial marketplace of buyers (note: great new potential business model for some plucky entrepreneur: track the ‘response’ of free book downloads as a data set for publishers to review opportunities).
• Publishers take the completed product, make tweaks as author and publisher feel necessary, print more and distribute them through the strength of their partners.

[Via : How the Book Publishing Industry Should Reinvent Itself - Harvard Business Online's Conversation Starter.]

I think the whole matter of ebooks is more complex than that, but it’s an interesting point of view.