I've noticed the opposite! I just bought a Norton paperback online and was very disappointed in the paper & print quality - not up to their previous standards. There is a Kindle version and my theory is they want us to buy the Kindle version - they can charge the same price and not have all the transportation and tree costs.Originally Posted by Paulclem
No - acid free paper last longer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-free_paper
"Paper made from wood-based pulp that has not had its lignin removed turns yellow, becomes brittle, and deteriorates over time.[2] When exposed to light and/or heat, the molecules in the acidic paper will break down even faster.[3] It was only in the 1930s that the effects of wood-pulp paper became known, when William Barrow (a librarian) published a report about the deterioration of acidic paper in the libraries.[4] For fear of the gradual disintegration of written materials, measures have been taken to improve the quality of paper.
During production, acid-free paper may be treated with a mild base (usually calcium or magnesium bicarbonate) to neutralize the natural acids occurring in wood pulp, and it may also be buffered to prevent the formation of additional acids "
University press paperbacks are often acid free, and American publishers are often acid-free. It's British who are the main culprits (shame on my country!):
"James Daunt, owner of Daunt's, on London's Marylebone High Street, has made a study of the problem over the years; he sells both American and British books, used and new. His explanation for the difference in quality? "It's because American publishers sew their bindings, and the cheapskate British publishers don't," he says. "They glue them. All glue dries, eventually. When it dries, the book falls apart. That's why you sew books." The tea-colored pages, meanwhile, are explained by British publishers' unwillingness to use slightly more expensive acid-free paper.
Daunt insists that many British books are well-made—the university presses generally use sewn bindings and acid-free paper, and their reference books remain things of beauty—and that a lot of American books are shoddy, even today. But there is an important difference: In America, bad books tend to be bad books... "In the States, you can more or less assume that if a book is a quality book, it will be built to last," Daunt says. "You cannot assume that if you're dealing with certain British publishers." Daunt names some particular offenders: the Penguin group, Random House U.K., Macmillan.
These publishers make books the way they do to save money. But they save a pretty paltry amount... For a very small print run, it cost an extra 30 pence per copy to produce the book with high-quality acid-free paper and carefully sewn bindings... British books are colossally marked up already: They tend to cost in pounds roughly what American books do in dollars—that is, just over 50 percent more. "So we have the worst of both worlds," says Daunt. "We have expensive books that fall apart.""
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/c...iterature.html
That's what I gathered from when I read up on it. Please see my former post.
It must have got muddled in my brain in the 90s.
One has to laugh before being happy, because otherwise one risks to die before having laughed.
"Je crains [...] que l'âme ne se vide ŕ ces passe-temps vains, et que le fin du fin ne soit la fin des fins." (Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Acte III, Scčne VII)
I have seen many a British books falling apart while sitting on the shelves. Those Penguins and Macmillans shed pages, specially in paperback form although when new, British books look more beautiful when compared with American books. Some American books are absolutely bullet-proof. Each volume in Harold Bloom's Modern Critical Views series should be classified as offensive weapon because they can break skulls if used skillfully for this purpose. At almost Ł40 per volume, this series should do more than simply educating undergrads.
"The farther he goes the more good it does me. I don’t want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the sh1t the more I am grateful to him..."
-- Harold Pinter on Samuel Beckett
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