The Laboratorium : Stealing a Page From Don Knuth

So, apparently, caesbooks are printed on paper that's super-thin but also super-heavy, making them dense monsters. Thanks to my messed-up schedule, at times I have to shlep three of them, plus my computer and assorted other booklike objects, with me. There are days when the rack on the back of my bike is so loaded down that the bike becomes inordinately fond of wheelies.

So I decided to do something about this problem. I went to the Kinko's downtown, slapped a casebook down on the counter, and told the guy it was too heavy and I'd like to do something about it.

He was skeptical. Copyright, he said; I can't just copy it for you. No, no, no, I replied, I want you to leave the pages alone. I'd just like you to rip off the cover and rebind it in smaller units. It took a few hours, but for $25 I converted my casebooks into volumes that could be mistaken for good old reliable paperbacks.

I'm expecting Peter down at Kinko's to have maybe a hundred people coming in over the next few weeks asking for something similar. This is going to be huge.