Re: orthography and pronunciation
| From: | Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, April 12, 2001, 13:00 |
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On Thu, 12 Apr 2001, D Tse wrote:
>> > Lemme explain: almost all paper used in books today is made
>> from trees and contains a certain amount of an acid which English name
>escapes
>> me at the moment. Thanks to this, the paper will selfdestruct in about a
>hundred
>> > years. To quote the Swedish physist-novelist Peter Nilson, "in
>> 2100 they'll wonder why people ceased to write books in 1870".
>
>What? So ... they just crumble? Disintegrate? Become dust?
Cheap ones do, yes. Ever been to a used book sale or shop? Look at the
older books (and even some of the not so old books). Most common
symptoms to observe are yellow to dark brown paper and brittle dusty
texture. I have scifi books from the mid 20th century that are about
ready to crumble away; while the 16th and 17th century books, though
tattered and in desperate need of binding, are still in pretty good
shape. The paper's still white, even.
Save the trees! Write on vellum in stead!
Padraic.
>Imperative