A Book Written in Disappearing Ink

[Steerpike]

I saw this a few days ago, and it popped back up on the news feed today. With the technology behind this book, you have around a couple of months to read the book and then what you've got left is a volume full of blank pages.

Would any of you ever buy such a book as a gimmick? What if the technology spread such that it was being used with your average bookstore book?

I could see myself buying one, just to watch the process and see how the text disappears. After that, I'm not interested.

Book printed in ink that vanishes after two months - Yahoo! Small Business Advisor

 

[Devor]

Scratch off the label, gag gift.

 

[ShortHair]

Before digital technology, only Jorge Luis Borges would have had this idea.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

William Gibson wrote a poem 20-odd years ago and put it on a (Mac) floppy disk, with software to display it. When inserted into a Mac, it would load, display the poem once, and then encrypt the poem on the disk. Apparently it also randomly destroyed portions of the code, to make it harder to decrypt.

Ephemeral stories are interesting, but in our society I really can't see them functioning as much more than a gimmick. I mean, for all practical purposes, there's hundreds of books on my shelves that may as well have erased the pages, since I haven't reread them. But at least I have the option.

 

[The Blue Lotus]

I seen this on yahoo and I have to say I'm not impressed.
I mean the price of books today is far too high to end up with what basicly amounts to a journal.
No I'll pass on this and if this becomes the norm I won't try tp publish in a traditional way either.

What a waste of paper, poor trees! :noway: