From:	arcady@***.net arcady@***.net
Subject:	Bad Bindings (was: Re: Man & Machine?)
Date:	Mon, 12 Jul 99 11:57:33 +700

>"Arcady" <arcady@***.net> writes:
>> > "And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Darrell L. Bowman."
>> > ] The quality of their sourcebooks hasn't though. They fall apart.
>> >
>> > Anybody come up with a solution for this? It's the binding, of
>> > course, that falls apart, so something that clamped down on it might
>> > help...
>>
>> I've never had a problem. Nor have I with any other gaming book that people

>> claim falls apart.
>
> I think I can tell you why mine fall apart. A few months ago,
>my SR3 cover fell right off of my softcover, leaving me with an intact
>book with no cover. This has happened more than once, and I'm pretty
>sure it's because I leave my books in the trunk of my (dark green) car
>several days out of the summer, and don't put them in an air
>conditioned room the other days. It's not the physical wear and tear,
>it's the heat. I haven't found a good solution yet. :(

That makes a lot of sense. I wonder what the climate is like in the places where
the other's who's books are falling apart live. I live in San Francisco and
we have a year round average of a moist 60-70 degrees F (I believe that's just
under 20 C). 80 is a very hot day for us. I keept my books straight up on the
shelf or closed and laying flat on a table. On rare occaision I've left a book
in the car while at work (to give me something to read at lunch) and I've noticed
the binding felt different afterwards (I work in a nearby city that's about
15 degrees hotter than home and is not covered in fog 24/7 like my neighborhood
:) ).

When I read I hold them in one hand by letting the binding rest in my palm and
the pages fall open enough to see the contents but not flat. Turning pages by
closing the book just enough that one page flies over when I release my right
thumb from the bottom right corner (I'm sitting here picking up a book and going
through it to be aware of my habits). Sometimes I'll grab a page by that same
corner and turn it.

I suspect that if any of my SR books goes it will be my new Companion. I've
witnessed one of players pressing the pages flat right after telling me he was
a careful reader. That book's not going out of my hands anymore though...