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Uncategorized Thursday, June 28th 2012 at 4:55 pm

Book with Disappearing Ink Turns into Journal After Two Months

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What’ll they think of next? Argentinian publishing house, Eterna Cadencia, is publishing an anthology of new Latin American authors known as El Libro Que No Puede Esperar or The Book that Can’t Wait. And quite literally, too, as the book is published with ink that disappears two months after readers first open it.

The YouTube video produced by DRAFTFCB to promote The Book that Can’t Wait tells us, “Books are very patient objects.” In many ways, this is an accurate statement. There are plenty of books on my shelf that I haven’t even glanced at for years. This proves to be quite a problem for new authors. If no one actually gets around to reading your first book, who will want to read your second or third? The Book that Can’t Wait provides the perfect solution to this conundrum, forcing readers to actually finish the book in a timely manner. The ink the book uses reacts with sunlight and air to disappear after two months, leaving only blank pages.

This book guarantees that the work of new authors will actually be read instead of gathering dust on bookshelves. That’s great! This book helps us actually read the books we purchase. Also great! But I’m left with just one question: What do you do with the book after the two months are up, even if you did read it? You will be left with a beautifully bound, exquisitely crafted book of blank pages. I am not too keen on the idea of a bookshelf full of empty books.

I suppose you could use the pages as kindling for your next cookout or never have to buy toilet paper again. Then again, you yourself could write in it and continue the cycle of amateur authorship that The Book that Can’t Wait is all about.

Check out the book’s promotional video down below!

(via The Verge)

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  • Jack Bond

    Now if they could cheaply restore the text, libraries could drastically reduce the number of lost books… probably not that worth it.

  • Aaron M.

    It can’t guarantee that the book will be read. It only risk that the hard work of authors will get lost in the wind, literally.

  • Some Guy

    “If people don’t read their first books, they’ll never make it to a second.”

    This is false. If people buy their books but never read them, they’ll still keep being published.

  • benifacio

    this is the last thing literature needs, expiration date. I like the idea of being aware of reading and the value of books, but I’ve always enjoyed searching old titles in dusty bookshelves. This only makes books throwaway objects, and empowers consumerism on objects for madefor sharing knowledge.

  • http://blauthor.blogspot.com/ Plum Jo

    That’s unlikely– I’m sure the publishers and author have backups of backups of backups, digital and hard copy. It’d be foolish not to. 

    It’d also be foolish if the books weren’t somehow sealed to keep people like me from opening all the books on the shelf for our own amusement. 

  • Paul Mikos

    Could be a great regulator to price textbooks like other books (or less) if it eliminates the aftermarket. And publishers could offer higher priced editions to keep or resell.

  • Sean

    This is horrible.  I own hundreds of books and have read the vast majority of them (80%+) at least twice.  I love rereading old books after letting them rest for a bit.  Picking up an old book has a feeling for me similar to that of meeting an old friend.  To me, an author publishing using this technique is akin to them saying, “Well, you’re only going to want to read it the one time anyways.”