Reading lamps made from drilled-out books

Typewriter Boneyard does a sweet line of reading lamps made from drilled-out old books, fitted with replica Edison bulbs.

Hardback Book Lamps (via Neatorama)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Doomstalk

Totally not a fire hazard.
Their feldspars

Perfect if you like glare.
guanto

So… their specialty is unadulterated, pure incandescent (as in really hot; I mean, really?) fire hazards?
s2redux

But what if I want to read The Odyssey? Lamps all the way down makes my head hurt…
Max

All the bulbs that I’ve seen like that are generally not pushing the filament to it’s limits like modern bulbs do.
With such a big filament, I guess you’ll avoid glare (by having a weaker more diffuse light source) AND avoid fires because it doesn’t get so hot.
I might be wrong.
- Max
  
  It does mean a very orangey light though, more like a flame than an electric bulb. “Mellow”
- Donald Petersen
  
  Yeah, if the bulb casts a shadow from the environmental light even while said bulb is burning, it’s probably not a particularly hot wattage.
  
  But as for the book pictured, I think it’s a fine choice. Homer himself, the old traditions go, would have had little use for the volume itself, nor the lamp they made from it.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Philip-Hansen/517972746 Philip Hansen

Hi there, all bulbs used are such low wattage, that even when left on for hours at a time, are not hotter than your hand can touch (nor harsh on the eyes).

The low incandescent bulbs definitely give off a ‘warm’ glow – hence a reading or accent light. I’m happy to address any specific questions or concerns.
RedShirt77

Yeah, That’s pretty. Wouldn’t want to leave it plugged in if i was in another room. Would probably hurt my eyes if I was in the same room while it was turned on.

Are we this eager to carve holes in all our old books? do we have too many secret book safes?
kairos

As much as I do appreciate the repurposed-book aesthetic and rationally accept it, having an old book – especially an old copy of the Odyssey – that’s been drilled through and rendered unreadable around all the time would depress the hell out of me.
- Jonathan Roberts
  
  It doesn’t actually look that old at all, I’d be more worried if it were a less well-known book too. I’d imagine a copy of the Odyssey from a few decades ago would be worth very little nowadays. It does look nice without a dust jacket though, I think making a lamp out of it is a good way of reflecting that.
  - http://twitter.com/nesnora nesnora
    
    I have that set of books— and I think they’re from the 20′s. GAH! This makes me cringe… and it’s not exactly that interesting of a lamp either…
ReboundDesigns

Beautiful! I’ve been a fan of Typewriter Boneyard for some time now, it’s great to see other artists making such wonderful things out of unwanted books.
dculberson

Often times the next step for a book like that is the recycler. Would you prefer it was a lamp or tomorrow’s junk mail? Because that’s really the choice. It’s not a choice between seeing it on someone’s shelf versus being a lamp.
Ian Anthony

Nice. 8 comments in, and everything that could be complained about has been complained about. Man I hope nothing creative I ever build ends up on Boing Boing.
- dculberson
  
  My sediments exactly.
- http://carborundum.myopenid.com/ Jeff
  
  Complained about by people who have neither seen or tested the thing :-)
  
  I think it looks great :-)
  - mccrum
    
    Ugh, even worse! Lauded by people who have neither seen nor tested the thing! :)
- RedShirt77
  
  I saw this image on pinterest last week, and although I do pin a lot of things I love on that site, when I saw this, I thought, “What a beautiful bad idea.”
  
  My advice, if you can’t stand differing opinions on your projects, put them in a drawer and go back to filming Hangover 3. Art ain’t for the timid.
djangofan

There is another word for that: kindling .
- Ian Anthony
  
  Are we just ignoring the comment made by the artist, then?
  
  Okay.
Ihavenofuckingname

Finally, a use for books.
Lix Diogenes

Finally a purpose for all of those Anne Coulter/Bill O’Reilly/Sarah Palin hardcovers you found while dumpster diving…
- Kevlar
  
  You’d have to put really dim bulbs on a lamp made from those books.
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

I like the look of the bulb. The bulbs are pretty cheap, too, so it looks like I’ll be getting a bunch.
Kevlar

In college ~25 years ago the math department would rev. the calculus book every year, forcing everyone to repurchase. I made a similar lamp out of an obsolete edition, and named it “Let There Be Light,” the Univ. of California’s motto.
bex

I really don’t like the craze for mutilating books. You may think a book is only good enough as a stupid lamp, but to someone else it could be gold.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RHG2QORT54PKZY4LHHVHBOZBZY Abe Lincoln

That book contains Plato’s account of the Socratic Apology. I hope he read it first. ;)
http://gristleoflife.wordpress.com/ Analog Kid

Some objects lend themselves well to being turned into lamps. This is just dumb.