LOW←TECH MAGAZINE
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A Website on Paper
🕑 Added 2019-01-02 18:36:53 +0000 UTC
In 2019, Low-tech Magazine makes the jump from web to paper. We publish a 732-page perfect-bound paperback, which is printed on demand and contains the 45 most recent articles. The book will be launched next week, but Patrons can already order it.
Because the book is based on the same electronic documents as the solar powered website -- all articles were converted to Markdown, a lightweight markup language based on plain text files -- the content is almost identical.
We only edited parts of texts that were not understandable without the accompanying images. Although images are an important part of the appeal of Low-tech Magazine, we believe it is more useful to have the text in printed form.
Why Paper?
Why do we publish a paper version of the website? First of all, many people prefer to read longer texts on paper: it is easier on the eyes than a computer screen, it offers distraction-free reading, and it is always immediately ready for use.
Second, reading on paper is the most resilient practice: the content is accessible without the need for a computer, the internet, or a power supply. Obviously, the book can be read when the solar powered website is down due to bad weather.
Just like the solar powered website, the book is designed for maximum sustainability. To fit as many articles in one volume as possible, the book has tight margins, justified text, and a gutter that adjusts for the effects of "perfect" book binding. Printing happens on demand, meaning that there are no unsold copies. Lulu.com works with printers all over the world, so that most copies are produced locally and travel relatively short distances.
More Books
A second volume, containing all articles published between 2007 and 2011, will appear later in 2019. After that, the series will continue with more or less yearly updates.
Patrons
The first three commentators on this post receive a book for free. Others can buy it straight from Lulu.com.
Comments
Low-tech Magazine
No sorry we're making some changes and that requires another ISBN -- the book will be available again soon
Tijl Van den Brugghen
Looks amazing! One question though, all links to lulu.com for the book appear to 404, and I can't find the book on the website. Is there anything I have done wrong ?
Low-tech Magazine
@ Julien, there's no hurry, the book will remain on sale.
palinke
Hi, really happy to see this coming to life ! How long will it be on sale ? My bank account is pretty empty now but I want to get it as soon as I can and 25$ is a really nice price for the work it represents.
Low-tech Magazine
@ Amos, without the images the whole website can be published in two volumes of roughly 700 pages. With images, that would become four or five volumes, and I simply cannot afford that in terms of money and time. If the book sells well, the profit will be used to make another volume that contains all images. Also, starting with volume three (2018-2019) images will be included.
Amos Blanton
Do I understand correctly that there are no images in the books? Can you say a little more about why you feel that it's not worth it to include the images? To me, they add a lot of very valuable information, enough to justify the extra cost (both environmental and otherwise) of including them.
Low-tech Magazine
Free books are all gone now.... To answer your questions: @ Steven, it is on sale for $25.20. @Mortz the book has no comments indeed. We may publish another book that collects the best comments. Hyperlinks were converted to notes: all articles in the book have references.
Mortz Buhl
Cool! But it will only be the articles, right? No comments? So printing an article myself would give me more than the book? How did you display the hyperlinks (the picture credit)?
Victor Barahona
What a good idea! The "Lowtech Bible" :) I love the books like this.
Kennarf
This is exciting - good way to get others to read the articles without the distraction of a million other things the internet throws in our direction at all times
Jay Skiles
Of all the Internet, your site deserves this treatment. Thank you!
