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Heh. In the early 90s I studied journalism and graphic design at college, and interned at a small town newspaper in the summers. It was a great learning opportu
by russellbeattie 5y ago
Heh. In the early 90s I studied journalism and graphic design at college, and interned at a small town newspaper in the summers. It was a great learning opportunity - I did everything from writing stories to selling ads to helping run the giant press, including plating, inking and manhandling the 800lb rolls of newsprint onto the machine.
Then I went into tech, specifically the web, and literally haven't seen a press in person or stepped into a newsroom since then. If I could, I would go back in time and transfer to UIUC in 1992 instead and go help Marc and Eric develop Mosaic, but what can you do?
Anyways, as someone who has done the dirty job (The ink! The ink! Everywhere!) of printing, I really have no illusions about the long lost art of book making going away. It's an inefficient, dirty, dangerous, wasteful business that is, honestly at this point, simply making more landfill.
- mastazi 5y ago> wasteful business that is, honestly at this point, simply making more landfill. I'm pretty sure that, on average, web pages rot much faster than the time it takes a book to reach the landfill. I have lots of books that I got used, many of them for free. There is probably a book exchange in your city as well, look it up.
- russellbeattie 5y agoSo clueless. Have you ever worked at book store? Do you know what happens to unsold inventory? Why don't you look it up? Just because you have a precious book or two you love so much and will cherish forever (well, until you die and your family throws them all away), it doesn't mean that particular book is special in any way. In order for your own copy to get into your grubby little hands, at least a dozen more were printed and destroyed. Something like 77 million unsold books destroyed per year. The waste is mind boggling and in today's world, completely unnecessary. Personally, I like my text on a screen and my trees in the ground as living plants, not landfill.
- mastazi 5y agoWhy do you have to express your opinion in the form of a personal attack? Been a long day? I hope you have a better one tomorrow.
- russellbeattie 5y agoYeah, please accept my apology and ignore me being a dickhead. I need to tone it down.
- tomcam 5y agoEasy, tiger. From the HN guidelines, which make this one of the most civilized places on the web: > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
- JKCalhoun 5y agoI respect your opinion, but couldn't disagree more. I hope the printed book never goes away.
- raffraffraff 5y agoI love books more than I love reading. In my living room, I converted the longest wall, flow to ceiling, with bookcases and filled them with books. Excellent sounds proofing, looks great, and entertains you.