4 ms·

Most paper books don't last. Paperbacks are printed on cheap acidic paper that yellows and eventually starts to crumble. The glue in the spine dries and cracks.

Most paper books don't last. Paperbacks are printed on cheap acidic paper that yellows and eventually starts to crumble. The glue in the spine dries and cracks. Hardbacks are more likely to last, and premium heirloom hardbacks = special print runs with special materials and extra assembly effort - are most likely to survive. But for what? Most heirloom hardbacks are better-than-average novels for well-heeled fans and collectors, not a complete guide to rebuilding civilisation. I'd be all for an apocalypse-beating Self-Study Handbook of The Important Stuff We Worked Out and Did, but good luck finding a publisher to fund what would be a massive project.

forgotmypw17 6y ago
Some of the most valuable books have more to do with the inner world than the outer. Other than binding, which can be re-done pretty easily, paperbacks are readable after 50-100 years. The paper may yellow, but crumbling takes a bit longer.
- TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
  You may have been unusually lucky. I barely dare open some of the paperbacks I bought in the 70s and 80s. Although I have PDFs of all of them, so it doesn't matter. The fact that I can change the font size to make them legible now does, to me at least. The hardbacks are still fine. (Except for the print size.)
timgl 6y ago
You're in luck, someone already has [0] [0] "The Knowledge" by Lewis Dartnell
kwhitefoot 6y ago
I have several paperbacks that are getting close to their centenary. They are getting slightly fragile but that is a long way from saying that the content is unusable. And I have several books published in the nineteen thirties and forties that would serve well to reboot civilization having comprehensive instructions for building all sorts of necessary machinery, buildings, clothes, etc. There were many such books with titles such as "Everything Within" and "The Handyman's Complete Self-Instructor". There is no need for a publisher to fund a massive project; most of what is needed is already available on paper and increasing amounts of it have been scanned so that anyone with a laser printer can make their own permanent copy. Of course those 1930s and 40s books won't tell you how to build a modern computer but they do tell you how to build a radio without needing to build a chip fab first. And it seems that there is sufficient interest (presumably as conversation pieces) for some such books to be republished: https://bookshop.org/books/the-handyman-s-complete-self-instructor/9781409724582 https://bookshop.org/books/the-handyman-s-complete-self-inst...
- mc32 6y ago
  Henry Stephens Book of the Farm from the 1800s can still be useful today, for example.
- geerlingguy 6y ago
  Sadly as radio goes the way of tv and switches to HD over time, I fear the analog equivalents that you can somewhat easily tune with a simple circuit may not still be around in 20, 30, 40 years.
- 52-6F-62 6y ago
  100%. My half-kidding "end of the world/zombie apocalypse" plan was always to pile some food into Robarts Library (Toronto) and gather the books I'd need to make it. 1) Endless knowledge 2) It's a bloody fortress Kidding aside, though, and also being one that maintains a small library I have to agree. Most of them are not so cheap as to actively degrade so fundamentally as to be unreadable. Maybe old dime-store dramas. I mean, unless you've left them open in the sunlight for 50 years.
- kwhitefoot 6y ago
  Further to my remark about things being scanned take a look at this from 1909: Modern electrics ... v.1 no.10 1909 Jan. <https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067294929&view=1up&seq=20 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067294929&vi...>
ardy42 6y ago
> But for what? Most heirloom hardbacks are better-than-average novels for well-heeled fans and collectors, not a complete guide to rebuilding civilisation. They're not a guide for rebuilding civilization. They're something that can last through whatever dark time you're considering in some semi-forgotten corner, so the next civilization can learn about and study what came before. And honestly, they don't need to last the whole time, but rather only until thins recover enough that you start to have copyists, etc.

forgotmypw17 6y ago

Some of the most valuable books have more to do with the inner world than the outer. Other than binding, which can be re-done pretty easily, paperbacks are readable after 50-100 years. The paper may yellow, but crumbling takes a bit longer.

TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
You may have been unusually lucky. I barely dare open some of the paperbacks I bought in the 70s and 80s. Although I have PDFs of all of them, so it doesn't matter. The fact that I can change the font size to make them legible now does, to me at least. The hardbacks are still fine. (Except for the print size.)

timgl 6y ago

You're in luck, someone already has [0] [0] "The Knowledge" by Lewis Dartnell

kwhitefoot 6y ago

I have several paperbacks that are getting close to their centenary. They are getting slightly fragile but that is a long way from saying that the content is unusable. And I have several books published in the nineteen thirties and forties that would serve well to reboot civilization having comprehensive instructions for building all sorts of necessary machinery, buildings, clothes, etc. There were many such books with titles such as "Everything Within" and "The Handyman's Complete Self-Instructor". There is no need for a publisher to fund a massive project; most of what is needed is already available on paper and increasing amounts of it have been scanned so that anyone with a laser printer can make their own permanent copy. Of course those 1930s and 40s books won't tell you how to build a modern computer but they do tell you how to build a radio without needing to build a chip fab first. And it seems that there is sufficient interest (presumably as conversation pieces) for some such books to be republished: https://bookshop.org/books/the-handyman-s-complete-self-instructor/9781409724582 https://bookshop.org/books/the-handyman-s-complete-self-inst...

mc32 6y ago
Henry Stephens Book of the Farm from the 1800s can still be useful today, for example.
geerlingguy 6y ago
Sadly as radio goes the way of tv and switches to HD over time, I fear the analog equivalents that you can somewhat easily tune with a simple circuit may not still be around in 20, 30, 40 years.
52-6F-62 6y ago
100%. My half-kidding "end of the world/zombie apocalypse" plan was always to pile some food into Robarts Library (Toronto) and gather the books I'd need to make it. 1) Endless knowledge 2) It's a bloody fortress Kidding aside, though, and also being one that maintains a small library I have to agree. Most of them are not so cheap as to actively degrade so fundamentally as to be unreadable. Maybe old dime-store dramas. I mean, unless you've left them open in the sunlight for 50 years.
kwhitefoot 6y ago
Further to my remark about things being scanned take a look at this from 1909: Modern electrics ... v.1 no.10 1909 Jan. <https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067294929&view=1up&seq=20 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067294929&vi...>

ardy42 6y ago

> But for what? Most heirloom hardbacks are better-than-average novels for well-heeled fans and collectors, not a complete guide to rebuilding civilisation. They're not a guide for rebuilding civilization. They're something that can last through whatever dark time you're considering in some semi-forgotten corner, so the next civilization can learn about and study what came before. And honestly, they don't need to last the whole time, but rather only until thins recover enough that you start to have copyists, etc.