How things used to be

One of the books I picked up off Amazon has come in useful today for the study of the Frobenius method; though this is good for me, this is not the point I wish to make.

Instead, I'll mention some of the blurb that is on the back of the book. The title in question, E. L Ince's Ordinary Differential Equations, has this written about it, or rather the materials of the book, on the back:

"We have made every effort to make this the best book possible. Our paper is opaque, with minimal show-through; it will not discolour or become brittle with age. Pages are bound in signatures, in the method traditionally used for the best books, and will not drop out. Books open flat for easy reference. The binding will not crack or split. This is a permanent book."

The punctuation is theirs and consequently, that is some statement to make. I admire both the rigour with which the statement is made and the conviction with which it is imbued. Plus, for anyone that has tried to work from a text book that constantly closes itself unless you break it's spine, they are on to something of a winner when they say the book will "open flat for easy reference". I can confirm that in the time it has taken me to write this, the book hasn't moved a jot.

At the risk of sounding like my grandmother, therefore — and deteriorating into hyperbole once again at the end of a diary entry — they don't make them like they used to.