Seriously thoughtful eBooks: a danger to posterity?

[Justy]

Originally Posted by tirsales

It's even worse - the paper used nowadays is not very robust - in older days stone or parchment (or more stable paper) - which could last centuries. Even the paper used in our days will only last 10-100 years - and thats not long.

I was thinking of the paper today vs previous years this evening as I read a story to my son. This was reading a hardcover "I Can Read" book purchased in the mid 1970s, the same book bought today would have pages at least 1/2 as thick and the ink would likely be of a lower quality too. I was marvelling at how the pages of this book, which had survived many readings by 2 kids as I was growing up and was now enduring the attentions a 3rd child, still looked almost new. I don't know how many of my recent hardcovers will be in as good shape 30 yrs from now.

[Curly]

I have some paperbacks from the 70s that are falling to bits, though my picture books from that period are holding up better.

Paper that has a lot of wood pulp is more acidic and therefore degrades much faster than paper with cotton pulp which is more alkaline. Archival, acid-free paper has chemicals added to counter-act the acid and so it lasts longer.

[Over]

If someone asked me whick book I would bring with me to a desert island, I could never say I would bring an ereader. Read just for a few days and then never again?

[ahammer]

Originally Posted by Over

If someone asked me whick book I would bring with me to a desert island, I could never say I would bring an ereader. Read just for a few days and then never again?

well the better ? would be would you take 100s of books on your ereader with a solar charger.

or just a few pbooks.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Over

If someone asked me whick book I would bring with me to a desert island, I could never say I would bring an ereader. Read just for a few days and then never again?

When they ask you which books to take to a desert island, just say "Heck No I Won't Go"! Then you can read as many paper or ebooks as you like.

[wodin]

Excuse me for my naiveté, but don’t you need electricity to produce paper?

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by wodin

Excuse me for my naiveté, but don’t you need electricity to produce paper?

To phrase an answer as a question, was paper ever produced prior to electricity becoming humanly usable?

Cheers,
Marc

[Justy]

Originally Posted by wodin

Excuse me for my naiveté, but don’t you need electricity to produce paper?

Not really, you can use plant matter and cotton/fabric 'sludge' to create a rough paper, it just takes time. The modern paper we use today is much nicer and faster to make because of electricity and automation though.
http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm

[moz]

Originally Posted by Over

what if ebooks will replace completely the pbooks? What if for some reason, in a post apocalyptic scenario, we can't produce electricity and recharge our computers and ereaders?

In that situation the survivors will have more pressing problems. I suspect that by the time they have worked out the basic food clothes and shelter stuff the great majority of physical books printed in the last 20 years will also have rotted to nothing - using cheap ink on acidic paper will do that all by itself.

On a global scale people have tried to address this. There are a lot of projects ranging from "time vaults" installed as part of new building dedications to people building pyramids full of noble metal tablets. None, so far as I know, regard paper as a suitable means to store knowledge for more than a century or so.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Justy

Not really, you can use plant matter and cotton/fabric 'sludge' to create a rough paper, it just takes time. The modern paper we use today is much nicer and faster to make because of electricity and automation though.
http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm

Yes, yes, I'm aware of dipping a screen an a slurry of wood pulp and letting it dry. But to produce paper on the scale necessary to print a popular novel or a newspaper, or just the amount of TP that gets used daily you need electricity!

[moz]

FWIW, stone tablets are not actually the last word in longevity - even pottery does better in many cases because it holds more per unit mass, so smaller pieces can be used. For a personal library where cost is an issue I suspect that a traditional movable type printing press using clay which you then fire and glaze would work well, especially if you used a metallic ink as well. You'll end up with quite bulky "books" but unless physically crushes I expect they'd be usable for a millennia or two.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by wodin

Excuse me for my naiveté, but don’t you need electricity to produce paper?

They have been manufacturing paper I China for a few thousand years now, and I suspect that at the very beginning the only power they used came from human muscle ;-)

The point is, you do not need electricity for READING paper book.

[HarryT]

Paper was invented in about the 10th century. Not too much electricity around then .

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Paper was invented in about the 10th century. Not too much electricity around then .

Was electricity invented after the 10th century then?

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Paper was invented in about the 10th century. Not too much electricity around then .

Earlier?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper