My BBB is fallin' apart!, Ack. Need advice. Options

[FXcalibur]

My BBB can't be a month old and pages are already falling out. I paid 50 nu- eh, bucks for this book, so this is pretty serious.

I kept the book in my room, which for the most part is pretty cold. Air conditioning cold. Now the book is slightly warped and the last few pages are unhinging. How can I remedy this page fallout, and what other advice do you have for maintaining books like this?

[A Clockwork Lime]

It happens to everyone. Either suck it up and deal with it, or send it to FanPro and see if they'll replace it for you. 'Course since the latter takes time where you'll be without your book, I don't know many people who bother with it.

It does blow a great deal, especially for the price of the book. At least most of the books I've bought since FanPro took over haven't fallen apart ('course, they don't have color inserts in 'em, either, which seem to be the biggest culprit).

[Kanada Ten]

You can have the books rebound with a spiral binder at places like Kinkos or similar. The cost is upwards of 8 dollars now, but I have two books (SR3, SoNA) that were rebound and I am quite happy with them. In fact, I plan to rebind R3 in a few weeks.

[Backgammon]

I sent mine back for a new one, and it was no hassle and took about 2 weeks IIRC, although it was still FASA back then.

I think rebinding is a good idea and I would do it, were it not for a psychological block that makes me unable to willingly break apart a book. Oh well.

[Dashifen]

I just rebound mine for six dollars and change and I'm quite happy with it. I opted for a thicker plastic binding rather than a metal spiral binding because the latter was more expensive than the former, but it worked out quite well. Unfortunately, I had previously lost the covers to my BBB, but now I get draw stuff on the card stock covers they put on to them.

[Connor]

I really endorse the Kinko's spiral binding method. All of my 'core' books except Rigger 3 and Matrix (since they're not used terribly often) have been spiral bound. They're all first printings of the respective books and they've held up well.

A few of the gear table pages in CC have come out due to extreme over use (I should have copied them ages ago like I did with the ones in FoF), but on the whole I know the books would be in much worse shape today without it.

Another thing I recommend is having the front and back covers laminated. It's been a booksaver on a few occasions and I think it really helps the pages hold up better since the laminate protects the covers from getting all screwed up from being tossed around and such.

[Fu-Man Chu]

I ditto the spiral binding - I bought my SR3 used that way and it's held up a lot better than the previous SR books - I very much enjoy the way it stays open without having the break the spine and using paperweights.

[I Eat Time]

Took the binding off and drilled holes for a 3-ring binder for my SR3 and a few other books. Worst mistake of my life. Granted, I didnt' go to Kinko's, but unless Kinko's slips all the pages into protective covers I'd still have the problem of the pages coming out, ripped, torn, and mangled.

[Connor]

I've been very suprised about the resiliancy (sp?/word choice?) of the pages in a Kinko's spiral bind. It was something I was concerned with early on. Seeing as it's taken years and years of abuse and over-use to affect even a few pages in my entire collection I don't really think that's too bad.

Of course, accidents can always happen, but no method is fail-safe. I feel that the spiral binding with laminated covers provides more than enough protection, expands the useful life of the books to more than acceptable lengths even considering heavy use, and spiral bindings are just so much more useful for laying flat or folding the book back on itself to save space.

[3Threes]

spiral bound with laminated covers here - was unwilling to do it for the longest time, wish I would have done it the day it was suggested to me