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Only 5,000 pages? I have books that are over 2,600 pages that don't even break 2.5" (eg Machinery's Handbook). Even using standard 20lb printer paper, my calcu
by phirephly 16y ago
Only 5,000 pages? I have books that are over 2,600 pages that don't even break 2.5" (eg Machinery's Handbook). Even using standard 20lb printer paper, my calculations don't have it breaking a foot. They must have used something like card stock, just to add shock value to it.
Seriously though, turning Wikipedia into dead tree media is something that should be taken more seriously. Without much effort, relatively interesting primers on subjects could be put together with relatively little effort. Think "Cryptographic algorithms" or "Battles of WW2" or "Countries of Africa" Collect and curate a selection carefully, and throw it up on some place like lulu.
- adambyrtek 16y agoThere are fishy companies that sell print-on-demand "books" based directly on Wikipedia articles, mentioning the source only in small print. I guess most of their customers don't realize that they buy something available for free on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDM_Publishing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDM_Publishing
- phirephly 16y agoYes, so the collector would definitely need to be creating value-added through the curation process, through the preface, index, which articles are selected, how they're ordered, etc.
- Jabbles 16y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_density#Conversions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_density#Conversions 5000 pages of 20lb paper would be 0.485m tall. 2.5"/2600 = 0.024m, which looks like 4lb paper - seriously thin.
- michael_dorfman 16y agoEven easier to visualize: a ream of paper (for example, what you put in your printer) is 500 sheets. So, stack five of those on top of each other, and you have 5000 pages (plus a little extra for the wrappers. Needless to say, it's nowhere near the tower pictured in the photo. EDIT: corrected "sheets" for my previous, incorrect "pages", which changed the number of reams to five.
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- jlgosse 16y agoNo, but ten of those stacks might be a lot closer. Check your math!
- michael_dorfman 16y agoI had ten originally, but then I was reminded that 1 sheet equals two pages (recto and verso). So, 5000 pages = 2500 sheets = 5 reams. Even ten reams is significantly smaller than the tower pictured, though.
- mynameishere 16y agohttp://www.amazon.com/Merck-Manual-Diagnosis-Therapy-18th/dp/0911910182/ http://www.amazon.com/Merck-Manual-Diagnosis-Therapy-18th/dp... 3000 pages, 2 inches thick.