From Mattkirkland · Matt Kirkland · · 1m 30s
Take a knife to your 850-page book
An 850-page paperback is a bad object. Here's how to cut it into volumes you can actually hold.
In brief
An 850-page paperback is a bad object. Here's how to cut it into volumes you can actually hold. If a book is too big to hold comfortably, buy a cheap copy and slice it into volumes at the natural breaks, then rebind each one in a manila folder. Originally reported by Mattkirkland.
Some books are too big
Matt Kirkland's book club picked Lonesome Dove. Great novel, Pulitzer and all, but it's an 850-plus page paperback. That is a bad object to hold.
“this is an 850+ page paperback! It is what I call Too Big.”
Big books punish you
Holding one for the hours it takes to read tires your hands. Reading in bed means hoisting a tome over your head. On a plane it eats half your bag.
You can just do this
Nobody will call the cops for cutting up a book you own. Kirkland says authors don't mind, and he'd happily have you chop up his own too-big book.
“You Can Just chop up your book. Nobody will call the cops.”
Buy it, find the breaks
Use your own copy, never a library one. Then look for natural seams. Lonesome Dove splits into three Parts; otherwise aim for chapter breaks.
“Buy a copy. Don't do this with library books.”
Crack the spine, cut the glue
Bend the book all the way open at the break point until you can see the glue strip. Slice into that glue with a sharp X-acto and the surrounding pages stay put.
“Bookbinders glue is great stuff - you can slice into it neatly with a good sharp blade”
Give each volume a cover
Bare page blocks snag and tear, so fold a manila folder around each one, crease it sharp, trim it, and glue the spine. Elmer's is fine. Label it with a Sharpie.
“you're rebinding it for your own convenience”
The key point
If a book is too big to hold comfortably, buy a cheap copy and slice it into volumes at the natural breaks, then rebind each one in a manila folder.
