Conceived as a large and dusty tome, with an obscure title, such as "The Forgotten Contemplations of The Tractate Middoth", the Lung Book sits amongst the stillness of a library quietly breathing.
It breathes because concealed within its covers are a set of tiny bellows, powered by long life batteries. These cause it to expand and contract, by a few millimetres on each "breath" and make a very quiet rhythmic sighing, as the air is expelled, along with a tiny cloud of dust, only visible in a stream of bright sunlight.
Place it amidst your other books, switch it on, and let it push them apart slightly as it takes its first breath.-- xenzag, Sep 01 2006 The Tractate Middoth http://arthurwendov...orror/tracta10.htmla gothic tale by M.R. James [xenzag, Sep 01 2006] Book lung http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_lung [normzone, Sep 01 2006] The Tell Tale Heart http://en.wikipedia...The_Tell-Tale_HeartEdgar Allen Poe [xenzag, Sep 02 2006] Is there a name for the phenomena? Maizechinegun [normzone, Sep 02 2006] I like the imagery - I don't see any purpose or application (air freshener perhaps?) but at the same time, I'm not sure I want to.-- zen_tom, Sep 01 2006 tome?-- po, Sep 01 2006 of course tome - typed in a hurry - thanks-- xenzag, Sep 01 2006 Be sure to place in a spot on the shelf that recieves those rays of dustmote enhancing sunshine and you could put solar panels on the binding to augment the batteries.
I was going to suggest adding all sorts of foot fall or small coughing noises but I think I like the simplicity of this one. +-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Sep 01 2006 + somewhat like my Edgar Allan Poe book, with it's heart beating beneath the floor boards.-- xandram, Sep 01 2006 Why? Why? Why? Oh, what the hell, it's the halfbakery. +-- phundug, Sep 01 2006 Play on words, [phundug] - see link.-- normzone, Sep 01 2006 [normzone] This is NOT a "play on words" - I never heard of a "Book Lung" before. This type of comment makes me very frustrated with bakery, and the link creates a false impression.
Every idea on this site is a construction of words. That's what language is. If I make the same idea totally visual, with no words used at all, what will it be called then?
I'm sorry you don't understand the idea, ( [xandram] gets it though).
Those who have said "why" etc: Not everything has the same linear meaning to all who come to it. For me there is as much value in mystery, as there is in explanations.-- xenzag, Sep 02 2006 Librarian: "Sssssh! The book's asleep!"-- wagster, Sep 02 2006 [xenzag] I do understand the idea - love the idea - you build it, and I will join the Lung Book of the Month Club, and you will be rich (slightly).
But when I saw it, my twisted mind leapt to the conclusion that you had started out with one idea and arrived at the other.
My mind processed your data in that manner. You expended energy on becoming frustrated. The laws of thermodynamics were observed. I am even more pleased to be mistaken, and yet able to provide a link that deepens the mystery, and will give scholars food for debate for years to come.-- normzone, Sep 02 2006 I'm thinking it's more inspired by the many living books of film and story. If I wanted one at all, it would be like the one in Harry Potter that chases him around the room-- DrCurry, Sep 02 2006 As an example of the type of process [xenzag] details above, I just posted an idea [link] that works as a play on words.
However, as [xenzag], I had the idea first. While searching for an appropriate title I stumbled over the play on words.-- normzone, Sep 02 2006 As Unky Wight used to say, "Pour in the Hell quoi?!"-- elhigh, Sep 11 2006 BTW, a book lung is an oxygen transfer organ encountered on the largest varieties of spiders. They're too massive for the insects' simpler solution.-- elhigh, Sep 11 2006 This is a fantastic idea, very atmospheric. + I want one on my bookshelf.
It also reminds me of the magical books in the Discworld's Unseen University library, which were so dangerously alive they had to be chained down. Perhaps a chain around your Lung Book would add to the effect, and also stop people from opening it to find out how it works?-- imaginality, Sep 13 2006 An actively respirating book lung would be less efficient but, it seems to me, much more robust. I nominate them for artificial organs.-- Voice, Mar 15 2022 Love this. More kidos if it could occasionally vibrate a little.-- RayfordSteele, Mar 15 2022 random, halfbakery