3 ms·

Warning: rant. These terrible bindings you have to fight are a relatively new development. Back in the 80s even mass-market paperbacks, while they didn't open f

Warning: rant. These terrible bindings you have to fight are a relatively new development. Back in the 80s even mass-market paperbacks, while they didn't open flat, at least were not "perfect bound" (the orwellian term for this cancer on book UX -- OK, I have feelings about books). When I ordered a new Knuth volume 4A and found it couldn't be comfortably read -- you had to hold this heavy book open firmly at just the right angle or else the text on the inner margin would start to edge into hiding -- it was the last straw. Reading it in bed was an exercise in weightlifting. Even Knuth can't stop this? People can warez e-books instead, you know.

jacobolus 8y ago
The cloth version of Knuth 4A (Additon Wesley) has real binding which lies flat and has visible inside margins. Are you talking about a paperback? Some of the worst books I have seen are the print-on-demand ones by Springer. It’s tragic that pretty much all of their math books from the past 10–15 years are only available in this format. Springer used to produce very nice books up through the 1990s.
- hypersoar 8y ago
  God, those Springer books are horrid. All the algebraic geometry students in my grad school department had copies of Hartshorne fallen into multiple pieces. One originally got a copy whose pages were printed at about half-size with huge margins around the edges. But my favorite was the person who ordered a Complex Analysis textbook, got a book that said "Complex Analysis" in big letters on the cover, only to open it and find a completely different book.
  - jacobolus 8y ago
    If you want a readable Springer math book, either buy an old edition from >15 years ago, or pirate an ebook. Urge your colleagues/teachers to stop publishing their books with Springer. https://www.math.upenn.edu/~chai/story/story18.pdf https://www.math.upenn.edu/~chai/story/story18.pdf """We reported this to Rachel, Heinze and Kölsch. Rachel responded promptly. As regards the material used for the cover, she informed us that “The word cloth is a semantic term that incorporates many different types of covers, including this one.” It was illuminating to learn that Springer can no longer tell the difference between cloth and paper. Imagine how much money the new owners of Springer could save if, instead of wearing suits made of cloth, Springer management switched to paper suits; no one at Springer would be able to tell the difference. On rainy days this could pose a problem, but we know that Springer has suppliers with plentiful stores of glue. If Springer repairs its paper suits with the liberal quantities of glue it uses in its books, then board meetings could turn into stiff, uncomfortable affairs. """
- abecedarius 8y ago
  It's a hardcover, iirc from the year it came out. The paper and typography were fine, but the difference in binding is really obvious next to the volumes printed in, say, the 80s. I don't know just when it changed. Nice to hear that a better version is available. I wish the online listings made it clearer what you'd get.
  - jacobolus 8y ago
    It’s possible the ones from the 80s are nicer, I don’t have one of those. The modern one seems acceptable to me, but maybe my standards have gotten weak in the face of many truly atrocious modern books.

jacobolus 8y ago

The cloth version of Knuth 4A (Additon Wesley) has real binding which lies flat and has visible inside margins. Are you talking about a paperback? Some of the worst books I have seen are the print-on-demand ones by Springer. It’s tragic that pretty much all of their math books from the past 10–15 years are only available in this format. Springer used to produce very nice books up through the 1990s.

hypersoar 8y ago
God, those Springer books are horrid. All the algebraic geometry students in my grad school department had copies of Hartshorne fallen into multiple pieces. One originally got a copy whose pages were printed at about half-size with huge margins around the edges. But my favorite was the person who ordered a Complex Analysis textbook, got a book that said "Complex Analysis" in big letters on the cover, only to open it and find a completely different book.
- jacobolus 8y ago
  If you want a readable Springer math book, either buy an old edition from >15 years ago, or pirate an ebook. Urge your colleagues/teachers to stop publishing their books with Springer. https://www.math.upenn.edu/~chai/story/story18.pdf https://www.math.upenn.edu/~chai/story/story18.pdf """We reported this to Rachel, Heinze and Kölsch. Rachel responded promptly. As regards the material used for the cover, she informed us that “The word cloth is a semantic term that incorporates many different types of covers, including this one.” It was illuminating to learn that Springer can no longer tell the difference between cloth and paper. Imagine how much money the new owners of Springer could save if, instead of wearing suits made of cloth, Springer management switched to paper suits; no one at Springer would be able to tell the difference. On rainy days this could pose a problem, but we know that Springer has suppliers with plentiful stores of glue. If Springer repairs its paper suits with the liberal quantities of glue it uses in its books, then board meetings could turn into stiff, uncomfortable affairs. """
abecedarius 8y ago
It's a hardcover, iirc from the year it came out. The paper and typography were fine, but the difference in binding is really obvious next to the volumes printed in, say, the 80s. I don't know just when it changed. Nice to hear that a better version is available. I wish the online listings made it clearer what you'd get.
- jacobolus 8y ago
  It’s possible the ones from the 80s are nicer, I don’t have one of those. The modern one seems acceptable to me, but maybe my standards have gotten weak in the face of many truly atrocious modern books.