Book Triage

by wschnell

Thinking about the books in one’s shelves, they can be categorized for scanning:

– the books that are so bad you would not give to anyone else and that you will never read again. Short process – they go into paper recycling immediately.

– the books you do not want to pack and unpack should you ever relocate => cut them and scan them, then recycle the physical paper

– the books you want to read in the future, but are sure you will only read them when they are in your tablet, be it occasionally, i. e. in places and at times where the physical book would not go. Or systematically, when the tablet is clearly the better carrier. That might be reference material, or other stuff.

– books that are physically bad, e. g. where the paper has degraded so you would not read them because maybe you do not want to touch the paper any more => scan and throw away

On the other hand there are

– books worth keeping; where you are willing to pack and unpack when relocating. Books that are just beautiful in their physical form. Treasure them! Enjoy!

– books that are temporary. For now, they serve better in physical form, they are worth the hassle of lugging and of being unavailable at times. Candidates for scanning, but not yet …

Note that there is no category for non-destructive scanning. Let’s put it that way: it has been tried, but it is never worth the time.