Busted Typewriter is selling a collection of hollowed out books as hidden compartments, including snug cases for the Kindle and Kindle DX. This is pretty nifty to way to read your Kindle while still retaining some of the look and feel of traditional books. But, according to the creator, this case goes beyond aesthetics to provide a number of benefits:
Love your Kindle but miss the feel of holding a real book?
Tired of strangers asking about it while you’re trying to read?
Paranoid that neo-luddite publishing loyalists keep giving you dirty looks?
Perhaps you’ll enjoy carrying your Kindle hidden inside an old book.
All of the books/containers can be bought off of Busted Typewriter’s Etsy page. If you find the price of $25 (plus $5 shipping) a little too steep but still like the idea, you could probably try making one yourself. It shouldn’t be too difficult to hollow out a book and glue the pages together. As for materials, I can’t imagine that a used copy of Spa Food would be super expensive.
I thought about doing this while waiting for my Kindle to arrive, but decided on one of the brown leather cases (platform) because it matches my briefcase and looks professional. One thing that annoys me is reading in public and having people gawk at the device, ultimately interrupting me. Hopefully they will become less of a spectacle soon.
i’ve been planning to make my own one of these since before my kindle arrived — just haven’t found the right used book to gut. i’m on the lookout, though. i want it for security — so no one sees the $359 electronic device in my bag; and also for the reason jeffrey notes — so that it will be less obvious for reading in public. when i make my case/cover, i am likely to dispense with the dustjacket (or make several different ones myself); and i will leave the endpapers and front matter intact. i do know how to make the book-box — but have not yet conceived my method of holding the kindle in. i don’t stick stuff to my kindle. had thought of maybe gluing 20 or so pages together to move separately from the rest of the text-block, cutting angled corners to cover the corners of the device, and installing snaps or velcro into the corners — embedded, so there’s no gap in the pages when they’re closed.
until i get around to the project, i use an m-edge cover, with integrated light, which i love very much. but sometimes i want a little more subtlety.
Kindle will never, ever, ever replace REAL books.
There is an aesthetic to the real thing, that plastic will never replace.
There is a place for kindle but it is a very small one.
Can you imagine your library shelves with just a kindle on them?
I don’t wan’t to seem extremest… But I very well can imagine my library shelves with just one Kindle in them. Perhaps being a child of military parents and having to move often and then making a transatlantic move myself followed by several small ones helped… Paper books are a royal pain to move around.
Also my wife was giving me exactly the same arguments 6 months back… until one evening she finished one of her books and had nothing to read at the moment. Book stores were closed already. I loaned her my Kindle and within a couple of minutes she was reading the book she wanted. Being able to carry the entire Douglas Adams collection on a long trip reversed her conviction completely. Now she has a Kindle of her own. Now she only reads a paper book if it’s not available on Kindle yet :)
I really like the functionality of a Kindle and Kindle-like devices, but I like to read books that have many translations and I am picky about the version of the book I read – so the device is not very useful for me. This issue has made me think a lot about who ‘owns’ information and the availability of information. It has also made me less enthusiastic about the Kindle as a book replacement. I am surprised to say so, but it makes me love my books and the local Library systems more.