The problem with most recent books is that they use a glue-based binding, but the glue seeps into the spine far enough that it makes laying them flat difficult.
However, if you bind it yourself, you can get the desired behavior pretty easily.
I have a summary of my process in the footnote of an older comment[0], but I've been able to get it working with hardcover books, and experimented with using a little bit of thread to reinforce the binding.
So far, none of my books have come apart and they all lay flat.
The problem with this is that you either have to print your own books or remove the binding from existing ones and then rebind them, which is not especially time consuming but not exactly fast either.
I wonder why this style of binding isn't more common?
Is it just too expensive or are there durability concerns?
However, if you bind it yourself, you can get the desired behavior pretty easily. I have a summary of my process in the footnote of an older comment[0], but I've been able to get it working with hardcover books, and experimented with using a little bit of thread to reinforce the binding. So far, none of my books have come apart and they all lay flat. The problem with this is that you either have to print your own books or remove the binding from existing ones and then rebind them, which is not especially time consuming but not exactly fast either.
I wonder why this style of binding isn't more common? Is it just too expensive or are there durability concerns?
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0. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15877525