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What Will Books Become?

2025-10-24 · letter vlog · Hank · 6:36 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: History & curiosities) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, civic or action cta

Hank traces books from bamboo strips, papyrus and scrolls to modern paper and argues that people keep their information media forever but keep changing how they work: books are already being reshaped for audio and modern attention (shorter chapters, mini cliffhangers), serial publication could return, and publishing may need to break out of its boxes; he predicts books will outlive every social media platform.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Paper as a technology; bamboo books, papyrus and scrolls

  • ★★ Hank says we no longer think of paper as a technology, but it is the result of thousands of years of experimentation in how humans store thoughts outside their brains. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank notes books did not always rely on paper: thousands of years ago in China, bamboo was split into thin strips bound together into something book-like. — 00:00:29 · China
  • ★ Hank finds it very weird that scrolling is a primary activity of the smartphone age: we took the scroll and backlit it. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Humans keep their information media; books will last but their functionality changes

  • ★ Hank says, he thinks, that the longest ancient scroll is about 24 feet long. (hedged) — 00:00:58
    • a number in question (doubtful): "24 feet" — check against the recording
  • ★★★ Hank says humans have many ways of sharing information and tend to keep each new one forever: radio alongside podcasts, newspapers, plays, stories around a fire; though not every medium remains, like scrolls. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Hank thinks marking pulped plants with symbols that tell a story will continue for as long as there are humans, but not as exactly the same thing. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Hank says the functionality of books has changed a lot: books from a hundred years ago are harder to read because our minds are conditioned in a different world. — 00:01:56

00:02:35 — Books for modern minds: Project Hail Mary, shorter chapters, Hank's own book, Umberto Eco

  • ★ Hank says Pride and Prejudice is still very good, a top-tier novel. — 00:02:35
  • ★★★ Hank thinks the way our attention now works might bring a functional innovation of books. (hedged) — 00:02:35
  • ★★ Hank calls Project Hail Mary a book made for a more modern mind, structured for how it feels in audio: linear, short chapters with very few overlapping scenes. — 00:02:35
  • ★★ Hank says chapters have shortened a lot over the last few decades. — 00:03:04
  • ★★★ Hank predicts more mini cliffhangers, and nonfiction self-contained in chapters that can be read or listened to in five to ten minutes. — 00:03:04
  • ★★ Hank is working on a book and sees some chapters as scripts he will almost definitely adapt for YouTube. — 00:03:34 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank says Umberto Eco, smarter than him, was wrong that the book, like the spoon, hammer, wheel or scissors, cannot be improved once invented: the wheel keeps being improved. — 00:03:34
  • ★★ Hank says that for a long period books were often published as serials, like subscription magazines carrying pieces of stories, before being bound into a single volume. — 00:03:34

00:04:03 — Serial publication, John's Patreon, Hank's rejected serialized-book pitch, publishing's boxes

  • ★★ Hank feels serial publication could easily come back and probably already is in some ways. (hedged) — 00:04:03
  • ★ Hank points out John is doing serial publishing right now with his secret Patreon, which Hank thinks is not currently accepting new members. (hedged) — 00:04:03 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank finds it exciting to imagine serials interfacing with print, and with things moving fast, responding to feedback in later chapters as creators do between videos. — 00:04:03
  • ★★★ After his first book went well, Hank pitched his publisher a monthly serialized next book sold only in bookstores, with parts needing physical places, to create an event; he was told it couldn't work. — 00:04:32 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★ Hank thinks there was a way around the objections and with real clout he could have made them do it, but maybe not. (hedged) — 00:05:13
  • ★★ Hank says he wants things to get weird. — 00:05:13
  • ★★★ Hank thinks that if publishing is suffering it may need to break out of the boxes it built for simplicity, efficiency and tradition. (hedged) — 00:05:13
  • ★★ Hank says tradition may be hardest to overcome, because books still hold a rarefied space that changing them too much might diminish, one of their biggest assets. (hedged) — 00:05:13

00:05:47 — Conclusion and sign-off, then plugs: P4A Nerdfighter art, Focus Friends, QI, Comedy Wildlife Photos

  • ★★★ Hank does not think books are going anywhere: he thinks books will outlive every social media platform. — 00:05:47 · social media
  • ★★★ Hank says the way books work today is not how they have always functionally worked, nor how they will always work. — 00:05:47
  • ★★ Hank reminds viewers that Nerdfighter art for the Project for Awesome is still open, with the link in the description. — 00:05:47 · Project for Awesome, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank announces Focus Friends now has a count-up timer and a second room, and a third room is in the works. — 00:05:47 · Focus Friend
  • ★★ Hank announces he will appear on QI in the UK on Tuesday with Sandi, Alan, Desiree Burch and Aisling Bea; he is terrified. — 00:05:47 · United Kingdom
  • ★ Hank points to the Comedy Wildlife Photo of the Year nominees, linked in the description, and would personally like the duck to win. — 00:06:26

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says P4A Nerdfighter Art submissions are open until Wednesday (29 October 2025), October 29, 2025 at projectforawesome.com/physicalart. — video description · Project for Awesome

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Book

Also: People: Aisling Bea · Alan Davies · Desiree Burch · Sandi Toksvig · Umberto Eco

Projects: Project for Awesome

Works: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing · Focus Friend · Pride and Prejudice · Project Hail Mary · QI

Organizations: Patreon · YouTube

Concepts: Attention · audiobook · paper · publishing · scroll · serial fiction · smartphone · social media · tradition

Places: China · United Kingdom

Events: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

Also centred on Book: Is Book Publishing Dying? An Author's Perspective

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