Updated: Tearing up a guidebook without making a complete mess of it

Teresa, I mark with paper clips all of the pages I want to take with me and I note the order I want them in. Sometimes I'm taking pages from more than one book. Then, I take the book(s) to Lazerquick and they very neatly cut off the binding, punch the pages and reassemble my book to include just the pages I want. I have them put a small spiral binding on the pages I'm taking. They usually charge about three dollars for all of this. You could also have them put a spiral binding on the left over pages. After this, they can reassemble and re-bind the pages as often as you want for future trips.

Teresa, here's how to do it.

1. Take the book to Kinkos. Have them slice off the binding so they can put a coil on it.

2. After the binding has been cleanly removed, take the book back, and remove the pages you don't need. Keep the covers and only the sections you'll need.

3. Hand your now slimmed-down booklet back to them, and have them put the coil binding on it.

When you're done you've got a great, light book that actually works BETTER than the original version. Besides being light, your can now sit flat when open, and can be folder back on itself so you can read it while walking around or sitting in a crowded cafe. We've done this for our past few trips and will never take any travel book any other way again. The last trip, we kept running into Rick-nics who wanted to know where they could get a version of their book like ours.

A librarian once showed me how to rip apart a book without making a complete mess of it. Yes, I do see the irony, but if you think about it, doesn't it make sense that a librarian knows how the books are put together?

Tear away the outer cover from the spine and the inside pages should remain together loosely glued along the spine. Tear the outer cover off first, because otherwise you will never be able to remove individual pages without making a mess of it while the remining pages are attached to the outer cover. Depending on the binding the inside pages may be grouped together, try to keep these groups together(sections or groups might not match chapters)

I hope this helps, but please don't hold me responsible if it doesn't work. I have only ripped apart one guidebook, but it did work using this method.

The Kinkos idea is good if you have time to do a really good job of it. Since it all ends up in the trash for me, I just use a sharp knife to score the binding (from between the pages inside) where I want to pull it apart. Two or three good swipes with a sharp knife will either cut through the binding completely or make it pull apart easily.

Thanks, all! I had no idea that Kinko's provided a service like that. Usually you go into Kinko's with one piece of paper that you want 10 color copies of and they're all, "Oh, man. Do you need it right now? We're really busy." Meanwhile, the other employees are lolling about behind the counter talking about how drunk they were last night and ...

Sorry. I kind of got diverted there, didn't I? Anyway, great idea about Kinko's or similar. Thanks!

The work at Kinkos takes all of about two minutes, it's not expensive, and the results look as good as the original. In fact, they look so good other travelers have offered to buy our coil-bound books off of us when they see them.

I'll never travel with a book that has not been through this process again.

The books are just a lot more usable with the coil binding (they lay flat on a table and stay open by themselves, and being able to fold the cover back on itself completely makes it much more compact when in use). YMMV, but I'm very happy with the results.

The first time I cut up a guidebook several years ago I taped it together with scotch tape. Ugh.

In preparation for our departure on Friday I used an Xacto knife to cut up the guidebook and remove the irrelevant sections. Then I took it to the local, independent copy store. They trimmed the pages along the spine and put in the coil binding for 3 bucks. The book looks great, when opened lays flat, and weighs half the original!

People have reported here that they cut out the sections they thought they were going to need, left other sections home that they thought, before leaving on the trip, that they wouldn't need. Then, mid-way on the trip, they decide they want to change the itinerary and see another city/region, but that section of the book is back home. They wish they'd taken the entire book.

I tear out the sections I don't need and leave them at home. I can usually ditch about 1/3 of any book. Every ounce counts when traveling "carry-on."

I don't dismantle guidebooks, but I do rip out a lot of the sections that I will never need (e.g. luxury hotels, nightclubs etc).

I don't reattach the sections. I put the sections I'm taking in a ziplock bag. When I'm done with a section it goes in the trash. I really don't like carrying any weight that isn't serving a purpose.

Bumping for update (see original post).

Good for you. It turns out nice and slick, doesn't it? Quick, cheap, light, just what you need...what's not to like about it?

Gave a great trip!

I have printed out so much information on the web that I wasn't sure how I was going to take all of it with me. For long road trips, I 3 hole punch all of the pages and make a big binder and weight or space isn't a factor. I decided to do the same thing only I've condensed everything in a lightweight flexible binder. I have also ripped out the pages of my Rick Steve's books and included them.