Coming Soon: EVERY Instructable, one massive book
[edit: this isn't real, but it would be awesome]
In the interest of helping out our amazing community of authors, we’ve decided to make all of Instructables available for download in a single PDF document. That way when the EMPs hit or the grid goes down, you’ll have all the chicken rearing, solar paneling, rain barreling, wind turbining, and urban farming resources you’ll need. And because we’re including everything, you’ll also be able to stave off the post-apocalypse blues with bacon roses and unicorn poop.
We’re putting all 127,000 Instructables projects into a single omnibus edition that will be sold at cost (TBD) to Instructables authors and for about $1000 for non-members. We’ll also make the PDF available to Pro members. If you’re so inclined, you can print and bind your own version. Get familiar with KaptinScarlet’s “How to Bind Your Own Hardcover Book” Instructable.
We found a spectacular publisher who’s willing to bind the pages with paracord and baling wire. This edition should have just about 30 meters of paracord in the binding, along with just enough baling wire to keep the whole thing together if you choose to take out the paracord. The publisher also agreed to include a metal shank in the spine that can be fashioned into a makeshift knife, shovel, or bottle opener. The book is big enough to make a pretty nice counterweight for a small trebuchet, too.
There were a few challenges for this publication. First of all, there’s an awful lot of content. To keep the print length down, we used small images wherever possible. We also cut the comment sections and individual project tables of contents. We did, however, keep the advertisements in the margins just in case AdSense will pay out during the End of Days.
This publisher did balk at including packages of strike-anywhere matches in the book jacket. Sorry everybody. Matches were deemed “too unsafe” for their production and distribution teams. As though a conflagration of Amazon packages in the back of a UPS truck is less safe than losing a few digits to a frozen post-apocalyptic hellscape.
The biggest challenge of all, though, was the sheer size of the book itself. The rough draft weighed in at about 500 kilograms. In a lucky break, using that ultra-thin biblical/lexicographer paper stock allowed us to cut the weight to just 220kg AND to make the pages double as bathroom tissue in a Charmin-less world. The tome will require a licensed forklift operator to receive it (or you can choose to pay the $150 white glove installation surcharge.) And, as usual, we cannot ship to a PO box.
Discussions
5 years ago
on a serious note....i ham building quite the digital library...i am going to be making a massive collection of volumes of "Ibles Books" to put into my personal library. volumes will be based off the categories of instructables and the types of instructables..ie Outdoors, Survival, Paracord, How to make a Paracord survival belt...
Reply 5 years ago
Pro-tip: build them as collections to keep everything organized. You can even put collections into collections, so your books can be available as "books" to the entire Instructables community. PM me if you want to chat more. I was the ebooks intern here once upon a time.
5 years ago
too big :I
5 years ago
I"ll take one for the team and test out the "tissue paper" aspect...
5 years ago
A book to die for -or -Die-Under!
This outdid my April fools trick of a ""lending library"" (Self Help!) located at a local bus stop,
Complete with arm chair book shelf ,coffee table and 3 seat-er , Books/Magazines,
Stocked from throw outs. Sign- (For your comfort- Please return books on next visit).
Reply 5 years ago
funny, here in germany we have such libraries for some years now in several cities at similiar places(trainstations etc.), but without the table and seats( plus they are not just a prank)
Reply 5 years ago
Thanks! great to know.
5 years ago
You haven't already downloaded the most important survival instructables to your triple-redundant off site backups on HDD and Modisc?
5 years ago
I WANT ONE TOO!
5 years ago
i want it
5 years ago
I would bite, if they could really do this... I would love to see how many books that they could put together for each month of the year, like a magazine set...
5 years ago
I would buy this if it was real.
5 years ago
if only
5 years ago
Best April fools prank ever! Had me there for a second... :D
5 years ago
so where does the "edible cover" come from...
5 years ago
I want one of these!
5 years ago
And this is why I hate April fools day!
April Fools! I love April fools day.
5 years ago
I recommend a duct tape binding. baling wire is not a good binding material.
5 years ago
This has nothing to do with April fool day :-0
5 years ago
If you made such a book I would buy it!
Reply 5 years ago
There's nothing stopping you printing your own...
Reply 5 years ago
True.. It would take alot of ink and paper, but it would be cat free! =P
5 years ago
Can it be used to kill zombies? You know, just in case.
Reply 5 years ago
At 3.8 tonnes, it will kill most anything it falls on!
Reply 5 years ago
Of course. You'll need to work the included metal shank into a point, probably. Or use the provided cordage and wire to rig a basic snare that drops the hammer of knowledge onto flesh-hungry heads.
5 years ago
Careful Wade or you might just find such a PDF clogging up your inbox. I still have several GB of project images/text downloaded from a certain book collation.
Reply 5 years ago
No PDFs, please. I will, of course, accept DIY bound physical editions of the book. Mail them to Mikeasaurus at Pier 9 in San Francisco.
5 years ago
I smell something fishy here...
My projects average out at around 12 pages of A4, which means the book would come out at just over 95,000 square metres.
Using the lightest bible paper, at 40gsm, that works out at a scratch over 3,800kg, and 91metres thick, none of which includes the binding, baling wire etc...
So, I suggest somebody has a word with those printers, before they take your money and disappear!
5 years ago
wow, so awesome, totally gonna get it o.o
Reply 5 years ago
Well, all 44 of your projects are in there. It'd be a shame not to get it.
5 years ago
this edition is for noe ark?
Reply 5 years ago
That'd be a great use case: few readers, plenty of DIY needs to meet, and there's no need to carry it around. The only issue would be the moisture.
5 years ago
thank you. First read of the day.you've set the bar high.