after seeing the post on how inventing reality is $100 on amazon, i want to share my very crude method for making physical copies of ebooks. unfortunately, i use linux for this, but i'm sure someone can provide substitutions for other operating systems.

I. preparing the pdf

software:

  • boomaga
  • calibre

files:

  • epub of book (http://libgen.rs/ or any other source)

steps:

  1. open the epub in calibre and print to pdf
  2. open the pdf file in boomaga
  3. select the booklet option in layout -- this provides you with a booklet that's also composed of sub-booklets, each made of 20 sheets. if you'd like to use smaller sub-booklets, go to preferences and change the number of pages
  4. file > export to pdf
  5. print pdf double-sided with a short edge flip

you have two options after this. you can keep the sub-booklets independent if you want, in which case, you fold the sub-booklet down the middle, staple through the middle on the outside, and bend the staple legs on the inside. make lots of them! give them away!

II. "binding" the sub-booklets

materials/tools:

  • twine
  • drill
  • clothespins

steps:

  1. stack your stapled sub-booklets and use clothespins to keep the spines together
  2. drill three holes along the edge of the stack
  3. thread and tie off a separate piece of twine through each of the holes you drilled

sorry if this is cringe or obvious, but it's been really helpful for me with reading theory and taking away the commodity fetishism involved with books. can write whatever you want in the book and mistreat the book itself (fold into pocket, throw wherever) without worry of exchange value. plus it's a great way to give your friends theory.

  • Vampire [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Bold of you to assume I can get a printer to work with Linux

  • honeynut
    ·
    1 year ago

    deleted by creator

  • CoconutOctopus [it/its]
    ·
    3 years ago

    This is a good post. There's a lot more you can do with bindings that are not too hard, but getting the book printed into signatures (sub-booklets) is the key to almost all of them.

  • Grownbravy [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    there was a point in my life where i was SUPER interested in book binding.

  • SaniFlush [any, any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I had learned a book binding method a long time ago, but it requires a curved coptic needle and waxed thread so there IS a barrier to entry.

    • protochud [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      i use a leather awl and waxed thread. it's easier, but i think if you drill larger holes, using a thicker string should be easy enough to thread through

      • SaniFlush [any, any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        The PitA part is getting a stitch into the paper just right so it's a book instead of a pamphlet.

  • evicerate [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    From my limited searching this is the type of bits one should use to make holes in paper - https://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-hollow-punch-set-67030.html

  • Coca_Cola_but_Commie [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I thought about this too when I saw that post. But there are reasons that most of the bookbinding stuff you can find online are about binding blank books. Printing definitely adds extra challenge (if you care about the end product looking nice). It's not too bad if you can edit the text, but trying to print out pdf scans of books can get tricky. The problem I've run into is that the printer I have can only really print 8.5x11 or A4 size pages or smaller. If the scanned text is from a large format book, then either your booklet is going to have text so small as to be unreadable or else, best case scenario, you can print it long ways on the page, but then you won't be able to make a folded signature. I know there are methods of perfect binding that can still work ( the one I've seen is basically: Apply glue to edge, back with cloth, have book) but I've not yet tried those. Seems like it'd be pretty easy for pages to come unglued.

    • protochud [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      i think perfect bind is what most paperbacks use? http://texasbindery.com/PURBinding/index.html

      also, for managing scanned pdfs, i've played with k2pdfopt