Flipback Books: Designed for Commute and Travel

Meet the flipback book: a small book printed (or bound?) sideways on really thin paper. The format is huge in Netherlands, and is coming to English-language books soon. This is perfect for commuting, especially when you don’t score a seat on the tube/subway/metro/tram/bus.

The flipback book is optimized for one-handed use, though the photo below does not demonstrate this.

I once had an onionskin version of The Complete Works of Shakespeare– it was incredibly tiny and light, but not too useful for vigorous on-book rehearsals.

The format is fantastic, though, for regular reading, and the pages could double as emergency toilet paper or spliff construction material, if one is so inclined.

I agree with Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow, though: Could this new book kill the Kindle? is a really dumb headline. If they’re less expensive than regular-sized paperback books, these can be very successful worldwide.