Book in a Box

[~Geektastic~]

http://www.visual-editions.com/our-bo...

"Book in a Box:" cool concept or would it drive you crazy? How do you write a review of book like this? Is it even a book, or just an artsy stunt?

I like the concept.

[janine]

I like it, though I would never let the wind carry off any of the pages.

From what I can see on the site they only have one book available, which was previously published and can be read in any order you like, so I think it counts as a book.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I'm not liking that.

Where did I read recently - I don't know if this person was real or fictional - every time they finished a page of a book they ripped it out and threw it away.

[~Geektastic~]

I like the idea of it, in that art books could work well in the format. Or books of poetry. As an experimental work and a statement about the nature of reading, I think it's cool, but it's not a book I could ever mark off of a to be read list because there are so many variations, like a very sophisticated choose your own adventure.

[Cyril]

If the pages weren't numbered, could you tell if anything was missing?

[Carol]

Myles wrote: "I agree, I like the idea of it. If I found a library that had that (oh my god the nightmare of making sure a patron returned ALL of it), I would check it out.
"

my first thought was "don't anybody get that for MY library"

[~Geektastic~]

When I was at Borders the other day, I noticed a poetry book (in a box). But this one is made in an accordion fashion, so while it's not traditionally bound it still adheres to a structure and the pages can be accounted for. It was Nox by Anne Carson. The design was pretty cool, and it was obviously a labor of love as the poet created it as a memorial in memory of her late brother.

[Helena]

Amber wrote: "When I was at Borders the other day, I noticed a poetry book (in a box). But this one is made in an accordion fashion, so while it's not traditionally bound it still adheres to a structure and the ..."

This sounds kind of interesting. The other book in a box would drive me insane. I have to read things in order. Always.

[Riona]

I'm intrigued by this, but then I love a good gimmick.

[~Geektastic~]

I'm thinking about making my own book in a box. I have been trying to come up with art projects to work on, and I just found a cool old cigar box at a thrift store. I'm trying to work on some bookplates, but they're not getting anywhere, so maybe I'll write a few pages of nonsense interspersed with illustrations and call it a book. Could be fun.

[Wendall Paul]

This is a very unique concept. It appears it would never catch on because of the potential for disaster, i.e. pages blowing away, losing the order of the pages, etc. But perhaps there in lies the catch. A non-linear way of reading a book. If you took a typical 200-300 page book and read pages at random (eventually reading the entire book) what would the experience be? Would the story still come through? I wouldn't mind trying this sometime. Might be fun.

[Ruby]

I like the concept a lot. Somehow I doubt there are many authors that could pull off a readable book in that format though. I'd love to have a go at the one mentioned in the article.

PS - Just found the book in the GR database. It's definitely on my TBR list.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...