I just wanted to weigh in on this as well (no pun intended). I, unlike Rotor, did not unbind my books last year, and I regretted every second of it. I had trouble with the idea of tearing up books, too. I did it this semester, though, and I wish I did it as a 1L when the casebooks were bigger.Rotor wrote:I did it last year and it hurt to watch the guillotine chop through the spine. That feeling went away the next morning as I biked up the hill with about 5 lbs total in my backback-- a netbook and a binder with the week's readings for all my classes (and a clean shirt to change into).Tangerine Gleam wrote:I was unaware of the concept of book unbinding until this week...how many of you are planning on doing this? I really dislike the idea of tearing up my casebooks, but I don't know if my back can handle a semester of this weight.
I had it done at Kinko's in Emeryville for $1.50 per book, although they did make me cut the covers off myself with a razor blade before they chopped them. I have to say I am surprised at how liberating it felt to chop them into pieces. You may or may not feel the same way at the end of 1L.