The Special Design That Makes Library Books Indestructible

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Video written by Amy Muller
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[@knotcoppercurls]

Don’t underestimate people’s ability to destroy books. Even the ones that are supposed to be indestructible. Sincerely, a librarian.

[@Kalvinjj]

I can only imagine what hell would be your job if they weren't that kinda standard. Some more popular titles or some specific seasons likely replacing weekly.

[@BrandyHoelscher]

I wonder how many of us are going to be lured to the comments to seek out our fellow librarians. 😂

[@shawnholbrook7278]

When I worked at a Library, I changed from "don't break the spine or dog ear!" to "thank God they are reading, let's tape it up."

[@romnhat306]

Nothing is indestructible, is trust hard to destroy. Example: tanks, buildings, books, ... .But usually things get destroy by brute force.

[@FayeVert]

Most of them are actually not bound to that standard, and so they do fall apart quickly. For popular fiction bestseller types, we actually *lease* multiple copies for a couple years at a time, then send all but one or two copies back.

[@Radar_of_the_Stars]

Amy is quickly becoming my favorite person in the Half-as-roster

[@TheRealDeathmatch]

nah ben doyle and adam chase are also amazing

[@jordansean18]

She was brutal to Ben and Adam in Alaska 😅

[@israellai]

Amy the newly minted expert on binders. Can't find a more perfect person than that (in the library)

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

I can't believe he has a payroll

[@anush_agrawal]

Always has been

[@Rattiar]

I love that Amy writes the scripts that make fun of herself and make Sam sound like a semi-abusive boss. Top marks all around!

[@johnladuke6475]

It's a cry for help, we need to alert the authorities about Half As Sweatshop.

[@soundscape26]

Of maybe Sam adds those parts himself.

[@marvindebot3264]

At least (as far as we know) Sam doesn't keep his staff locked up in the basement, unlike Simon. Amy, if Sam is holding you captive in the basement, work the key phrase "the rooster crowed at midnight" into the next script and we will send a rescue party. @@johnladuke6475

[@JenniferinIllinois]

That's what Sam wants us to think.

[@CatholicSamurai]

4:17 as a millennial who became a professional bookbinder apprentice last year after a career-pivot: almost all the equipment that we use in binding hasn’t been manufactured in the last 40 years. Oversewers, wire stitchers, board shears, turning-in machines, lead-type makers, and foil hot-presses (with their various attachments) are becoming ever more rarer to find and more difficult to maintain. Some things still exist in a modern form (like ream cutters) but the manufacturing industry that supported bookbinding has basically all but collapsed.

[@fredericapanon207]

Well, if one of your machines breaks down, the channel Vintage Machinery would be a great place to get (non-forged) replacement parts made.

[@BasstoMouthFishing]

You aren’t a professional anything after a year….

[@magesalmanac6424]

You don’t know their life, maybe they’re very good at what they do. No need to be a snob

[@CatholicSamurai]

@@BasstoMouthFishing binding is my profession, it is my means of employment in my professional working life. Thus, I am a professional binder.

[@andersjjensen]

@@BasstoMouthFishing Buy a lawn mover and start charging money for moving lawns and you're a professional lawn mover when you do your fist job. A professional $(profession) apprentice is someone who's doing a paid apprenticeship, as opposed to paying for education, or being a hobby apprentice at the local historical trade museum. So the TL;DR is that "professional" does not mean "good at" but rather "makes money off". If it was the former, rather than the latter, you'd be a professional idiot. But since it's not, you're just a regular idiot until someone pays you for your idiotic remarks.

[@JoolsBurke]

Amy needs a pay rise to recognise her new skills!

[@fh5kskalf]

She's already got catastrophic health insurance, that's generous.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

She really showed she can stitch together a story, do a good job covering the topic, and has a rigid spine!

[@npgabriel]

Nice try, Amy

[@ssj3gohan456]

no no, keep her down, then she's going to put in the effort to stay employed and give us many more half-assed books.

[@Kalvinjj]

So Amy is getting Half As Paid eh? -yes, I had to-

[@piguy22]

Amy actually making the book is one of the most unexpectedly beautiful moments in a 6 minute semi-educational video I could imagine. Give her a show!

[@brunorabelo410]

Don't feel pressured Amy! We are supporting you!!! I like scented candles

[@Colour_beaks]

We should appreciate Amy 🙂

[@johnladuke6475]

I _really_ want to know whose cat she was writing to.

[@EcceJack]

I always find them a bit too much, but definitely enjoyed pages 12 and 13 :D

[@iicydiamonds]

Half As Book looks fantastic! Great work, Amy!

[@FRM45]

@@midnatts-kornajoel2224 Bricks as Half

[@WyvernYT]

I loved seeing Half As Book! We'll have to wait to see the chapter about bricks. :-)

[@pulverizedpeanuts]

no, it looks half as fantastic

[@TheOne_6]

Can't wait to read Half As Book!

[@_thereswaldo]

Amy, I know you felt pressured to nail this page of the book because it's visible in the video, but be assured, you did an amazing job!!!!! Anyway, thanks for asking, my day was good but it was hot and cloudy, I do indeed prefer staying indoors, and I do like your handwriting! I would 10/10 read a hand-written book made by you.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Hot and cloudy? In January? Where do you live, Australia? It's extraordinarily cold here in most parts of the US right now, so I WISH it was hot and cloudy!

[@ΣτελιοςΠεππας]

I'm also here to express my support to Amy and her handwriting.

[@AlastairClarkUK]

Yay handwriting. Amy did nail that page of the book.

[@_thereswaldo]

@@MatthewTheWanderer yeah, currently in Australia with inhumane temperatures

[@aquaintsound]

Getting my graduate degree in library science - i think people forget that lots of librarians have graduate degrees and skills from computer science and programming, social science qualitative studies, and archiving stuff! Also copyright law. Talk to a librarian if you wanna hear a rant about how much it costs to license ebooks

[@fish3977]

Also why most people working at a library arent librarians.

[@caty863]

Such a useless degree!

[@alexnovak2669]

If you don't already have a job in the field... I have bad news for you.

[@bane2201]

Man, I feel bad for librarians. I read a while ago how much libraries spend on licensing ebooks, and it's genuinely ridiculous. The Internet Archive appealed their case - I hope to god it's resolved in their favor, because that'd set a great precedent for libraries. I've started just "legally" finding ebooks online (LibGen) and/or buying used copies. I'm not going to support the companies strong-arming my library. My money's put to better use donating to the Internet Archive or to LibGen.

[@ETXAlienRobot201]

@@bane2201 yeh, it's ridiculous! good!

[@jomiar309]

"Barnes & Normals" was one of the best jokes I've come across recently, as was "Half as Book." I also deeply appreciate Amy's note to us and her ability to confront vulnerability. I'm gaining an increasing appreciation for her, and I hope she's appreciated at HaI. To answer your questions, Amy: - My day has been pretty crazy when somebody flipped a breaker my experiment at work, costing me over 5 hours of work that had to be repeated for a project that MUST be finished or die this week. - The weather is warmer than it has been lately. - Your handwriting is lovely, and significantly more legible than my own. - Scented candles generally, unless they are actively on fire, are usually too strong for me, but when burning, they are quite nice.

[@egpx]

I can’t help but admire Mr Bookbinder’s response to Amy’s email.

[@seanj3667]

I have the feeling he has used that response before.

[@joerionis5902]

​@@seanj3667Dare I say-he probably has a program for it

[@ryuuguu01]

Tom Jones.

[@ejensen]

"Harumph." as a sign off is pretty glorious

[@maverick9708]

Shout-out to Mr.Bookbinder for providing the most amazing email roast I've ever seen in my life Thanks for showing that 😂

[@KumquatChampion]

Bro was unnecessarily cold and hilarious

[@ElectroNeutrino]

It reads as if this wasn't the first time that he was asked this question.

[@johnladuke6475]

I'd like it if he secretly _is_ a bookbinder by trade, but simply resents the assumption.

[@bruhngl]

​@@ElectroNeutrinoexactly, I feel like he just copy pastes this every time he gets a book binding question

[@timseguine2]

This a partially comedic video. I hate to burst your bubble, but this sounds an awful lot like it is a bit the writers put in as a joke, and not something that actually happened.

[@theorixlux]

Remember to tell Amy her book binding skills are above average! When do we get a second edition?

[@Chubby_Bub]

Do two Half as Books make one As Book?

[@timduncan6750]

I'd like to see more coverage of Amy making the book...

[@Chubby_Bub]

@@timduncan6750 Is this an intentional pun?

[@timduncan6750]

@@Chubby_Bub No, it wasn't but I see it now...

[@noone1929]

Quality of materials is important. For my internship, I weeded a lot of 90's kid's paperbacks from the library. Not because they were being read, but because the glue in the spine had dried out, and the whole thing cracked when you tried to open it. We had books from the 40's or older I left because they were holding up better. So yea, quality matters.

[@seanj3667]

I've got a couple books from the Dune series (there are a lot of those books) which came from a Denver library. They are in rough shape.

[@mister_i9245]

Mr. Bookbinder was so real

[@tatzecom]

Harumph!

[@bholdr----0]

One of the best parts of this and other very high quality binding is that they will lay open and flat at the page that it is opened to (so it can be read while being on a table or lectern (or... lap?) Without being held. I collect books, and absolutely love, and will pay more for, books with this quality (and of this ...quality). Cheers.

[@FayeVert]

Library worker here, I do the preparing of new books, some in-housing mending and binding, and I recycle the discards. 99.9% of books in a public library are NOT library bound, they're just regular commercial copies. The ones that are, though, are TOUGH. I struggled to cut a 1950s library bound children's book apart with an x-acto knife, while much newer books were falling apart on their own after a few circulations. Library bindings might not be pretty, but they are AWESOME.

[@andersjjensen]

As someone who tortures technical reference manuals for a living I ALWAYS pay the premium for the hard cover with hollow spine option, if available. It saddens me that the only local bookbinder died about a decade ago. At 87 years. In his workshop. Having lunch. I still have a 1st edition Advanced Programming in The UNIX Environment bound by him in the rack reserved for "historical artefacts".

[@jirivorobel942]

​@@andersjjensenIf I can't get a sturdy hardcover edition, I often wrap the book in plastic film (there's a variety sold specifically for books), then make an easy-to-replace protective jacket out of old drawings. It's not as good as a better book, but it doubles the lifespan of a paperback or a cheap hardcover. I haven't found any good way to protect anything spiral-bound.

[@andersjjensen]

@@jirivorobel942 It's always the back of the book I end up breaking. When you're working off technical manuals you tend to need both hands on the keyboard while the book needs to stay on the specific page you're staring angrily at. Wrapping is good for when you throw them in bags and/or need to read them free-hand in public transportation. But my tech books never leave my home office.

[@quehablo]

Its also nice, as library books are sometimes sold at auction and then resold for a few dollars. And therefore you can buy an indestructible, if lightly used, book, for very cheap

[@reaganharder1480]

I got some 1930s math books from a thrift store once for i think about $0.25 a piece. Still in pretty good shape for their age, and they smell fantastic. (Yes, I do buy old books for a sole purpose of smelling them)

[@4RILDIGITAL]

I had no clue of the intricacies in the making of a library-bound book. A totally new perspective.

[@jamesfrankel7827]

Loved this episode, I took up book binding 15 years ago as a hobby. Very satisfying to hold a book you rescued from the trash with 21st century materials, elbow greese and 14th century "book knowledge". Now lets make an episode on how too bind a few bricks together.😅

[@ETXAlienRobot201]

how about binding a book in bricks?

[@sponge1234ify]

​@@ETXAlienRobot201also known as a Wax Tablet

[@milkdrinker7]

I was really surprised to learn that properly made and stored paper books is one of the most durable ways to store information for looong periods of time.

[@fredinit]

Acid free archival paper, high-quality polyester film using silver halide emulsion*, and engraved stone/clay/metal are the only proven archival media. Everything else is just guesswork if it will last any amount of time, or be readable/legible at the other end of the journey. *Note: Technicolor is archival. Process color is not. Kodachrome is close - as long as it's properly stored.

[@srpenguinbr]

It lasts so long that a regular person cannot understand the language or the letters anymore lol. I for one cannot understand 100+ years old handwriting

[@milkdrinker7]

@@srpenguinbr that's one of the big benefits of printing.

[@srpenguinbr]

@@milkdrinker7 yeah and there will always be a historian somewhere who is able to read that ancient text. It just requires some effort and study, but the information is still there

[@Axodus]

@@fredinit If you're trying to store terabytes of data you'll find that a book isn't information dense enough.

[@__spyguy__]

Only Sam could make _library binding_ interesting

[@mynameisconnorimtheandroid6080]

Meh I think it was only 50% interesting

[@theporgwholived9606]

Bricks are still more interesting

[@thatdude9091]

I don’t know, it was 50% not interesting

[@lughaidhmcloughlin3640]

I would argue that Amy made it interesting, Sam just read it

[@j03man44]

*Only Sam's employees

[@K.Arashi]

at the library i used to work at, we usually just had our classics library bound. everything else was mostly consumer print, because shelf space is limited, and weeding out worn books helps free up space for new books! once the books are no longer relevant or of interest to the public, they get donated or sold. no one wants a hundred copies of each new james patterson to last a couple hundred years. he'd take over the entire library if he could. (i hate james patterson. i hate james patterson with a hundred burning fires. and a hundred burning wrists)

[@seanj3667]

Tell us how you really feel about James Patterson. I feel like you're holding back.

[@tealmer3528]

Please tell us more about James Patterson.

[@bane2201]

How do you _really_ feel about James Patterson?

[@Axodus]

Please point at this doll where James Patterson hurt you.

[@ericsworkshop]

I feel like we need to see Amy in the next Jet Lag season. Also, please tell me that she left "Half as Book" on a random shelf in her local library.

[@matthewmerchant2038]

I don't know what you pay Amy, but it's not enough. She's so dedicated, and I love seeing her footage

[@thecrapadventuresofchesimo420]

The area labelled with question marks in your standard's number is the catalogue number for the Standard, it's what you would search for if the standard was referred to by a work instruction or other document. Ie the book is to be bound to standard ANSI Z39.78 - 2000 The binders quality system is to be ISO9000 certified. Etc etc

[@justinbanks2380]

The text/handwriting on the pages at 4:52 I feel how aware she is and have empathy

[@edwardsmoliak109]

Would like to say as a long time watcher of this channel, this episode is easily a top one. Just good, clean, interesting AND super mundane but particular. It's perfect.

[@DannerBanks]

"Amy did her best and ... It looks like she did her best." 😅

[@PendragonDaGreat]

The library is the only place I have ever seen hard-bound manga and comics that weren't special editions, precisely because they were library bound and popular with the preteen through college crowd.

[@RaccoonHenry]

Half As Book looks right at home in that bookshelf!!! Amy is absolutely KILLING IT!!!

[@RaccoonHenry]

also: my days have been awful lately. the weather is fine, but I am definitely an indoor person. your handwriting is way better than mine, and I do like scented candles. ❤

[@johnchessant3012]

4:54 My day was alright. The weather is not so good where I am, it snowed a lot today. I am more of an indoor cat, but it would've been hard not to notice the snow pelting my face as I waited for the bus to go to work today. And most importantly, I do like your handwriting. I also like scented candles.

[@kv4648]

2:24 this f*cking hilarious 🤣 He must've had trouble with that surname, yet I'm confused as to why Amy didn't guess this

[@foolofdaggers7555]

As an aspiring librarian with a history of accidentally leaving books in my backpack to get bent out of shape and destroyed (I barely ever borrow or carry physical books anymore because of this), this is really fascinating to me.

[@ChalyntheRed]

I work at an academic library, and I checked out a book from 1896 the other day, and that’s old binding tech. The new reference books are seriously tough, like space grade toughness.

[@bradlevantis913]

I just spent 6 minutes of my life learning about book binding and was totally enthralled. My world is complete

[@TheRavenLord1]

Only channel where it could make book binding interesting to learn about.

[@wifeoftheparty9839]

I love how Amy even got to make a book!

[@HjFUN1]

This explains several hundred errant questions/thoughts I've had through times in libraries and with library books, especially in college.

[@wreckless1524]

Four Keys Books Arts is a good book binding channel if you wanna watch the whole process. It's not library binding, but it's entertaining

[@srncivhrnci]

Hi Amy. You were right, page 13 was visible in the video. I personally like candles, but not the scented kind. You did great and, if I may speak for everyone who watched this video, we like you very much.

[@ErezElene]

My first job was working as a book binder! (technically book re-binder) This brought back so many memories. I still remember the smells of all the different kinds of glue, how to measure and cut the boards for covers, plus how to assemble the covers via a specific folding method (the first part of which was shown near the end of this video with the tiny book), etc. Since we rebound books, we had to take the old covers off first. The books that were held together by the sewing techniche were the worst, because it made it so much more time-consuming with the box cutter; whereas books that had been assembled via the special glue method you could just easily rip the spine off. One thing my workplace would do to reinforce the de-covered books was to staple the edges of the spine with a giant staple gun. But if you stapled wrong, those things were a pain to get out with the pliers! Good times.

[@reaganharder1480]

I knew nothing about this being a standard, but I have for a long time had an unreasonable obsession with these sorts of books. Or really any hardcover with a matte finish. I don't know why, they just make me happy

[@gwendolynscogin9770]

Amy, I am doing well and the weather here is freezing. I am not entirely an indoor cat, as sometimes my guinea pig friends and I like to walk around our neighborhood. Im ok with scented candles except for the ones that smell like cookies. Those are candles of lies.

[@Veilure]

These videos keep getting better. Great job Sam, Amy, and team! 😊

[@theconqueringram5295]

This is actually interesting. I have a few books myself that I read obsessively and they look like they took a huge beating. Nice presentation!

[@guymanperson3089]

Best HAI video in a while, loving the interactive segments. Hopefully that book at the end will survive if you accidentally leave it in an oven for 10 days.

[@seanj3667]

I can't recall pausing a video from HAI so much in a long time.

[@fredericapanon207]

Considering I have put books in the oven at the lowest setting for at least an hour (depending on thickness) because of bedbugs, I see the utility in testing for heat resistance.

[@damianmiranda2985]

Yo, you should sell mini bind-your-own-book kits, I'd buy one

[@Enzo187]

Mr Bookbinders reply was warranted.

[@DOPES4MAGA]

Glad to see some more of Amy.

[@R_C420]

_Bursting Strength_ *Hydraulic Press Channel* has entered the chat.

[@JasePhotos]

Came here to say this! 😂

[@sirshowaddywaddy7910]

Hey the new Half As Amy episode just dropped!

[@justinbrown218]

Mr.Bookbinder's reply has some Norm Macdonald vibes ❤

[@FantasKanal]

The guy kept handing her scraps cause he was probably excited to be asked about his trade.

[@MSWMW]

This is something I literally never even gave a second of thought about and yet now that you are presenting it, I'm realizing how interesting it is!

[@TheOriginalFaxon]

Has anyone noticed the pun yet? Amy made a scrap book.

[@diagonallycuttoast2438]

My local library sells their old worn down commercially bound books to raise funs for new books (usually between 20 cents and a dollar per book depending on if it’s a kids book or not), half of the fun of it is getting to rebind the old hardcovers to give them new life. Going from a super floppy hardcover that is half falling out to making it into a book that has the same ‘crack’ as new books do when you open them is so satisfying

[@XKidd92]

4:54 my day was good! Just worked a lot and went to a couple of meetings. Met up with friends after work for a couple of beers and then headed home for dinner. The weather was good- but was really cold. It was about 12 degrees Fahrenheit when I woke up, but the windchill made it worse. The roads were really this morning and it was treacherous getting to work. Your handwriting is legible, which is better than I can say at times- although I do try my best! Scented candles are great- but I can’t do scented candle stores like Yankee Candles. They bother my eyes. If you havent been to the Northeast- I wonder if you know what Yankee candles are! If not, my reference doesn’t make sense- but if so- then great! I can’t bother to do much research before sending this comment. Anyways- great stitching! Write back.

[@fpnbrian]

In college (23 years ago) I had an internship where I wrote software for the (at the time, maybe still?) world's largest book rebinding company, all the spine and cover measurements and the binding types were entered into the computer systems using my speech to text software, and then populated into the rest of the databases for job and billing.... Lots of flashbacks seeing those binding type names again for the first time in over 20 years, they were part of the speech to text book intake system and I must have repeated them 10,000x during testing!

[@WalnutBun]

1:50 I would imagine that Z39.78 is the standard number, like "3103" is for ISO 3103. As the annotation explains, -2000 is the year the standard was adopted, so this is the year 2000 version of ANSI/NISO/LBC Z39.78.

[@catatonicbug7522]

I really hope Amy enjoyed making that book! It looks like a fun yet challenging learning project! Well done!

[@PhillyMotoXTS]

If I put half the effort into achieving my goals as Amy did with that book, I'd be a success!

[@himanbam]

That video was a great example of the quality we can count on from this channel. In other words, that was Half as Interesting as expected.

[@bow-tiedengineer4453]

I absolutely love library bound copies of pulp era paperbacks. I remember my highschool had a few Anne McCaffrey books that were library bound, and I loved the fact that they were durable like a hardcover book but still pocket sized like the paperbacks they started out life as. I love a good had cover book, but I've never been a big fan of the larger dimensions of commercial hardbacks and modern books compared to the good old ~4"x~7" of proper pulp era paperback novels.

[@GospelOfIHM]

i recently started working in a library and i had wondered why many of our books are like this. this was honestly kind of fascinating.

[@jakeasmah8953]

Love how you put the book in the fantasy section

[@StardustAnlia]

I’ve written 52 sketchbooks and I read them often. I find the spiral bound ones fall apart the fastest, the perfect bound 220 page books color coded to the season have become the standard, and the ones my elementary school teachers bound on a machine have lasted 16 years with only water damage on the ones that lived in the crawl space. One time, I tried binding my own book with printer paper, cardboard, and staples. It mostly ripped apart and on top of that, my idea to ration each of the 13 20 page sections to a specific week of the season backfired spectacularly. Finally we have a book that has been left in the crawlspace and become a flaky moldy rock. I think it was a composition book, but I can’t tell. I find the best way to read them is in digital form, taking a photo of each page every time I finish one.

[@dennisc6716]

My father and I published a genealogy book back in 1995 and upon advice by the printer, we had it library bound. It only added about 20% to the cost of the book but we were easily able to charge 50% more due to its better quality. It turned out to be quite a bargain as none of my personal copies show any wear at all after almost 3 decades.

[@bipinnambiar]

Is it on genealogy? If so, what is the name?

[@dennisc6716]

@@bipinnambiar It was on the lineage of our family. It was never in general distribution and never even had an ISBN number assigned to it. Only 2,000 copies were printed.

[@TimSci]

New Jetlag challenge has landed: "bind a book."

[@bananatassium7009]

very well made video, big props to Amy's research!

[@THE7EPIC7PUPPY]

2:25 Bookbinders email is hilarious, reminds me of Norm MacDonald's Polish joke on Conan

[@JRCSalter]

As an amateur bookbinder, this has now given me some new reading material...

[@maxemore]

I'm amazed at this guys ability to consistently find weird obscure topics to make videos about

[@andrew24601]

Holy shit, way to go Amy! That’s real dedication to the craft of five minute semi-satirical animated education videos.

[@andersjjensen]

Kindly requesting a Wendover Productions episode on book binding. The HAI format is all fun and stuff, but this is a topic there's preciously little content about.

[@Radm0bile]

I'm going to print out and bind this spec to the standards set by itself. I feel it is the only sensible thing to do.

[@victorcast2467]

The bookbinder who received Amy at his workshop actually sounds like a very nice person.

[@dr_tails658]

Ok but what about a book about bricks?

[@1112maximan]

Once upon a time I was a bookbinder for my local university, the oversewing machine having a bad day hit hard on so many levels.

[@a1oilsauce]

honestly I wouldve loved a half hour interview about bookbinding more. I appreciate how concise this channel is, but that sounds like something that's worth getting lost in the sauce

[@DarkHarlequin]

Half as Book turned out GREAT Amy 🤗

[@fanta6789]

When I was in high school (Madras, India), we would have a local book binder bind our books (after market) so that we don't ruin them during the school year. Everything is use and throw now. 😢

[@johnladuke6475]

Amy knows us well, I absolutely read those pages. And now I'm burning with curiosity over whose cat she was writing to, as well as why you would bind a letter as a book and stash it on your own shelf. I'm dying to read Half As Book.

[@fredericapanon207]

Fun fact: Stories told through letters are known as epistolary novels. Eventually, I may remember the name of one that was quite popular for a while...

[@johnladuke6475]

@@fredericapanon207 mmmm delicious rare factoid. Now do you happen to know if that's also the term for fictional stories told in diary format, or would they have their own name?

[@fredericapanon207]

@@johnladuke6475 I did not know the name for stories told in diary format. Such a story that does come to mind is "Daddy Long Legs" by Jean Webster. When I looked it up to get the author's name, it was also described as an epistolary novel! Could a diary be considered letters to one's self? Aaand I did not know that "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Choderlos de Laclos was an epistolary novel. The things one learns on Wikipedia...

[@fredericapanon207]

@@johnladuke6475 Wouldn't you know, Wikipedia did not include "Griffin and Sabine: an Extraordinary Correspondence" in their list of examples. That is the epistolary novel that I was trying to remember. "The Martian" by Andy Weir is also an epistolary novel since it is written as a bunch of diary entries.

[@johnladuke6475]

@@fredericapanon207 Thanks for the reading suggestions. I've only one to offer in return that comes to mind, and of course I can't remember the title. It's a short story in a Stephen King collection (he's actually fabulous in shorts & novellas) and the book is Skeleton Crew. The particular story is the diary of a surgeon's descent into madness on a deserted island. Some gruesome details but in between is some chilling psychological storytelling. The rest of the collection is worth it as well... someone should force Stephen King to edit every story to less than a hundred pages.

[@jogandsp]

*Amy is a national treasure*

[@Athenachristiansen]

Makes sense why most of the good condition older books I own are reference books. The four books I have from the International library of technology and one from the library of practical electricity are same of the oldest, and best condition books I have. Dates are: ILOT 1923/24 with one being 1905 and in insanely well condition. LOPE is from 1917 and in fairly good condition. I also have some old Shakespeare book someone probably bought for school (tragedy of hamlet 1907, if you had told me it was made in 2007 I would have believed you), Beards and Beards US history book (definitely used in schools, literally has discussion questions after every chapter) 1930, great condition. It also helps most of these haven’t been used as much, but still. (Yes, I know some of these were made before the standard was in place, but probably used similar techniques) Also all of these were bought at my local thrift store for less than $5, meaning they have been sitting someone for the past 100 years collecting dust and are still this good.

[@flaetsbnort]

Amy's taste in books is pretty great

[@Frommerman]

Sounds to me like Amy needs to unionize.

[@EMNstar]

The backbone spine joke was adorable

[@alestrius]

I would kill for the adorable little Half As Books to be buyable merch.

[@alexzuelke5209]

we LOVE Amy and her hand writing!

[@StewPedassle]

From a single statement -- "the bookbinder said that machine is 'having a bad week'" -- I am convinced that we need a long form discussion with the bookbinder because he sounds hilarious.

[@speedocowboy]

Woo! A video that isn't 100% stock footage

[@carpathianoire]

book binding is so neat

[@alexandermagrino9285]

Well if it was messy they wouldn't last very long.

[@bubbledoubletrouble]

3:09 The Hydraulic Press Channel may be illuminating on the bursting strength of paper...

[@d.b.cooper1]

Jheez a real life outside correspondent living in NYC....That's like the biggest new flex a youtube can do. Out with old school mid 2010s ' I BROUGHT MY FIRST FERRARI' in with the 'I pay NYC wages broski'....at least I hope you do?

[@catherine_404]

True, a library bookbinding and conservation workshop approaches their trade not the same as a workshop which restores private books. We receive/purchase books however they were built by their publisher, so they fall apart depending on how the publisher decided to balance their expenditure. And after they begin to break apart the library workshop has to do it right by hand. Which may take up to 8 hours port book...

[@mrslinkydragon9910]

If only field guids were made to this standard!

[@FayeVert]

If you really want them, you can have your personal, retail-purchased copies re-bound, but it can get pricey.

[@mcfixer9503]

really tempted to establish my own home library and have everything properly bound to the highest specs w/ the best materials

[@ImtokyotheDog]

I hope the machines week gets better