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Angle cut book pages

For easy page turning.
  (+16, -3)(+16, -3)
(+16, -3)
  [vote for,
against]

Nearly all books have pages all the same size. When turning pages, it takes some dexterity to lift only one single page to turn. If one is using an appendage other than a finger, or if one has less-than-nimble fingers because of extreme youth or age, it is easy to get 2 or more pages at a turn. Very frustrating.

I propose that pages be cut at an angle, so each page is slightly larger than the page beneath it. It would then be easy to lift and turn the current page. This could at least be done with kiddy board books.

bungston, Nov 08 2004

Deckle Edges? http://desktoppub.a...ldef-deckleedge.htm
sort of what's being described, but not quite... [csea, Dec 09 2006]

Deckle Edges http://www.alibris....glossary/deckle.cfm
The glossary definition from the Alibris.com web site may make this condition a bit more clear. [jurist, Dec 09 2006]

[link]






       This would just never do for people like me who tend to read from back to front.
bristolz, Nov 08 2004
  

       [bristolz], what if the pages were cut such that each page is the same size, but that each page would be situated slightly higher than the next? Then people who read from the back to the front (I tend to do this with magazines, for some reason) could flip from the bottom.
JakePatterson, Nov 08 2004
  

       I was kidding, actually, but I, too, tend to read magazines from back to front.   

       To solve the problem bi-directionally one could bind the pages set with a slight clockwise twist (as viewed from the front). This way, the top corner edges of the pages overhang each other successively from front to back while the bottom corner edges are a mirror arrangement for the back-to-fronties.
bristolz, Nov 08 2004
  

       //To solve the problem bi-directionally one could bind the pages set with a slight clockwise twist... etc., etc.// - if only the Halfbakery permitted illustrations, then this clever idea could be properly explained...
hippo, Nov 08 2004
  

       [Bris] - the clockwise twist is clearly the way to go. One could then use the same pages but bind them with the twist for the special version. Croissant!
bungston, Nov 08 2004
  

       The twist would look beautiful. [+]
wagster, Nov 08 2004
  

       [bungston], I've found that pulp novels don't have this problem due to the ragged cut of each page. I'm sure, instead of trying to bind a book twistedly enough to get leverage on each sheet, that warbly edges would allow the reader to locate the outcropping of the page . . . like is done in address books with letters - - except without the attempt to have every sheet with a different tab all the way down the book. [+] <edit> ohay, great idea for kiddy board books. I can't turn the damn pages on those things and I'm an adult! Not . . . that . . . I read . . . children's books . . . ahem. </e>
contracts, Nov 08 2004
  

       [+] And you get an extra bun if you figure out how to get the pages of a kiddie book to be turned easier after they are glued together with drool....
sophocles, Nov 08 2004
  

       ...with a handheld hairdryer. But not when you're in the bath, obviously.
thud, Nov 08 2004
  

       This would lead to interesting fun: Pages cut so that two pages would turn together, but the page number only increments by 1, so you might never discover the "secret page"...
phundug, Nov 09 2004
  

       I've seen a lot of notepads with the 'twist' effect. Yes, they are attractive.
weedy, Nov 10 2004
  

       I’m easily distracted, so it’s no surprise to me when I turn two pages instead of one, finding myself lost. My SO, whom I will kill one day, has taken this a step further. Finding my dog eared book next to the bed, he removes the ear and dog ears another at random. So I’m either completely lost or suffering from déjà vu.

Come to think of it, I’ve really let this go on too long. <Scribbling on grocery list: kill him this afternoon.>
pluterday, Nov 10 2004
  

       If the upper corners of all the pages were joined by a long string with enough slack between each pair to open the book flat, one could turn the page by pulling on the string.
FarmerJohn, Nov 10 2004
  

       Pehaps a simple way to retroactively add the twist to hard back books is to fashion a thin dense foam or rubber wedge, tapered across both its width and length, that slips in between the outside and inside binding spine and forces the pages into a twist.
bristolz, Nov 10 2004
  

       I once had an Arthur C. Clarke hardback that had ragged-cut page edges.
waugsqueke, Nov 11 2004
  

       I was going to suggest this very idea but you already did so. I will point out that both directions of zag are easy to flip, regardless of direction. So, one could just print books where the edge is a zig-zag.   

       The flipping style is different, depending on the direction of the zig-zag. In one case, you curve the paper towards you with your right hand and the page pops out when your thumb moves beyond the edge of the top page. In the other case, you curve the paper away from you with your left hand and every page except the one you are lifting pops out when your thumb moves beyond their edge.   

       Bun for you.
aguydude, Dec 09 2006
  

       I have a number of my father's books from the 1930s, and many have edges that vary in length over a period of about 32 pages. This does make turning pages easier than with flush edges.   

       I tried searching for the word that describes this, and encountered "deckle edges" [link] but I don't think that's what is meant. Anyone know what this is called? It seems to have been very popular about 75 years ago.
csea, Dec 09 2006
  

       According to the Alibris web site, you appear to be calling it correctly. The uneven pages are referred to as "deckled" or "uncut" edges. [link for photo & definition].
jurist, Dec 09 2006
  

       (2014) What's a book?
pashute, Sep 01 2014
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

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