Fitness Stretches for Your Book
Think
of a book as a body. It has a spine and attached to the spine are a
tight skin (the cover) and taught muscles (the pages). When something
pliable is tight, and you fold it quickly and unnaturally, it may snap
or break. That can happen to books just like it can happen to living
bodies.
When
athletes prepare for a sprint or other athletic activity, what do they
do beforehand? They stretch! That's what you should do for any new book,
too. Stretch the binding that links the spine with the covers
and pages to gently release the tension between them. By stretching it,
you prepare it for hours of open and closing at your leisure, which
makes for a more pleasurable experience for you.
Follow These Simple Steps
Stretching
the binding is really simple and will keep the spine from breaking and
the book in much better shape for a much longer time:
- Stand the book on a flat surface on its spine.
- Holding the book vertical, open the front cover a full 90 degrees and press your fingertips along the crease the length of the page.
- Keeping the front cover open, now open the back cover a full 90 degrees and press your fingertips along the crease the length of the page.
- Retaining the current sides open, return to the front of the book and fold three or four pages open together 90 degrees, pressing your fingertips along the crease.
- Repeat this at the back of the book.
- Alternate this for more and more pages between the front and back of the book. Although you could go all the way to the center of the book, I find a quarter of the way sufficient.
Once you break in the ends of the book, the middle will naturally follow as you open the pages.
from http://booksville.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-break-in-new-book.html
