This Week’s Topic:
What’s your favorite use for a book besides reading it?
This struck me as an odd question and then I realised I use books for many other purposes before, during and after reading.
Personally, I always keep a book or my Kindle (sometimes both) besides my bed upon which I can put my cellphone. Why? Because the cellphone vibrates so loudly when the alarm goes off that it sounds like there’s an earthquake in the apartment. Having a book under it, cushions the vibration and makes it less jarring in the mornings.
My fiancee uses books during camera lens repair. This arcane science of modifying and fixing lenses often requires Epoxy and drying times of up to 24hours. This is where books are handy for weighing down said drying parts. Our kitchen table is regularly decorated with lenses sporting towers of textbooks and hard covers.
I’ve also used books for tracing shapes as a kid, for tearing paper along a straight edge, for flattening out crumpled papers, as a step ladder to reach the top shelf of my wardrobe, as a coaster for a coffee cup (bad idea) and even as a doorstop. This is where my Kindle just won’t cut it, even if I’ve got 3000 books on it, my Kindle will never make a decent doorstop or ladder. For this multi-purpose, diverse functionality of the book alone, I don’t think hard copy books will be eliminated by e-readers any time soon.
What strange things have you used your books for?
