# How do I make a book that will last a million years? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926 "2018-01-05T16:04:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/41 "2018-01-06T21:31:12Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Nah, I want it to be read throughout that million years. The easy answer would be for you to write the book that unites all the peoples of earth. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/42 "2018-01-07T00:11:35Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > The easy answer would be for you to write the book that unites all the peoples of earth. So,\* Fire and Fury\*? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/43 "2018-01-07T02:03:49Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > If this turns out to be bad Twilight fan-fiction, and that’s all our million-years-from-now descendants will know about our culture, then SO HELP ME… There will be a Cult of Trump in a million years, after they come across a gold statue of him on the bottom of a coastal shore of the former continential US…ahu belahu Trumpu… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/44 "2018-01-07T11:33:03Z")
Can we please keep this thread reasonably serious? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/45 "2018-01-07T16:16:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m thinking that glass just might be your best bet. Yes, it’ll shatter if dropped or struck, but glass is remarkably resistant to just about anything else. And you can mitigate the impact problem by storing them in the bottom of a large body of water. > > Hmm… A large body of water which will remain intact for a million years. That part might be difficult. > \ How about ice? Surely there are parts of Antarctica that will remain frozen for at least the next million years. Agree on the best material to remain intact in ice for a million years (etched glass or crystal sound like good contenders) then bury multiple copies in various locations and at various depths throughout Antarctica You not only want your book to remain intact and protected for a million+ years, you also want it to be found and read (via Rosetta Stone means) by whatever intelligent species dominates Earth at that time. I believe the freezing/melting cycles of the polar ice caps allow properly (and luckily, hence the more copies, the better) placed books to reveal themselves during melting phases in very distant times. Some may even be resting on bare Earth when discovered. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/46 "2018-01-07T17:14:39Z")
There are examples of very old glazed porcelain pieces with clear images seemingly untouched by time. They can break, but the pieces stay good enough to reassemble. The material has no intrinsic value, and is always more valuable intact than otherwise. So my recommendation is to inscribe the text on useful vessels. Vases or jugs so that they are more likely to be retained during times of ignorance or disinterest. Research the most long-lasting clay mixtures and glazes, and add a clearcoat to protect from UV light. Then start thinking about where to store them. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/47 "2018-01-07T19:55:39Z")
Actually, speaking of the Moon… wouldn’t, say, a random book dropped by an astronaut just stay intact practically forever in there? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/48 "2018-01-08T21:54:57Z")
The reason I suggested granite blocks is that yes, these granite blocks are likely to be re-used by future people. But they aren’t going to melt down the granite block to make jewelry. They’re going to use the granite block as an already cut building stone. As was said, stone blocks from monuments were re-used without a qualm by local people as just another chunk of rock. And sure, the faces on the outsides of the building will tend to get worn away, that’s why you have redundant copies. If the building site is continuously inhabited for a long time the site will tend to build up with detritus and the blocks will get slowly buried under the constant accumulation of trash. Especially if the locals tend to build with mud brick or adobe, your foundation stones will be protected under a layer of sediment. The purpose is to make thousands of purpose designed Rosetta Stones, which will be preserved the same way the original Rosetta Stone was preserved: as a hunk of rock incorporated into a future building project, unappreciated by the builders as anything other than a convenient hunk of rock. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/49 "2018-01-08T22:26:48Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I thought it was a given that the “book” will at least be buried or stored in shelter. No substance will last a million years if exposed to weather. > [@Quartz](#): > > Well, stored in a library or museum or such like. Though I want to ensure that my book will survive short-term mishaps. Great! Now all we have to do is find a way to build a library or museum that will last a million years… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/50 "2018-01-08T22:47:36Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Actually, speaking of the Moon… wouldn’t, say, a random book dropped by an astronaut just stay intact practically forever in there? Right now, that seems a safe assumption. But the OP talks about a million years hence. It’s possible that years (even thousands of years from now), the surface of the moon will be widely explored by random tourists and not just astronauts. For example, I think many people today think of the Apollo 11 landing site as something that should be honored and left undisturbed. But if travel to the moon is cheap and easy, some sleazeball might think nothing of messing around there; uprooting the flag and messing up Armstrong’s footprints. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/51 "2018-01-08T23:02:59Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Actually, speaking of the Moon… wouldn’t, say, a random book dropped by an astronaut just stay intact practically forever in there? A paper book? The surface of the moon varies between +100C and -170C between day and night, and is bathed in ultraviolet radiation, since it doesn’t have an atmosphere to block it. I don’t think a book would last very long at all. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/52 "2018-01-08T23:10:29Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > A paper book? The surface of the moon varies between +100C and -170C between day and night, and is bathed in ultraviolet radiation, since it doesn’t have an atmosphere to block it. I don’t think a book would last very long at all. Yeah, the flags we left up there have turned completely white from UV radiation alone, I gather. That’s why if we’re going to break the rules of the OP and use the moon, I vote we carve the words right into the bedrock of the moon itself, carved in trenches wide and deep. If you’re gonna do something, don’t do it by halves. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/53 "2018-01-08T23:12:43Z")
Carve a cave in a stable geological formation outside the reach of any likely glaciation. Ensure it is carved in such a manner that it will not fill with water. Then, carve your book on the walls of the cave. Cave paintings made by humans - which are pretty fragile - have survived for 40,000 years relatively unharmed: > **[Cave painting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting)** > > In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 years old (art of the Upper Paleolithic) and found in the caves in the district of Maros (Sulawesi, Indonesia). The oldest are often constructed from hand stencils and simple geometric shapes. > More recently, in 2021, cave art of a pig found in Sulawesi, A ... Carved words in a cave out of the weather ought to last a million years, easy. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/54 "2018-01-08T23:15:53Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Yeah, the flags we left up there have turned completely white from UV radiation alone, I gather. That’s why if we’re going to break the rules of the OP and use the moon, I vote we carve the words right into the bedrock of the moon itself, carved in trenches wide and deep. > > If you’re gonna do something, don’t do it by halves. So if aliens scout the moon before the invasion they’ll think we already surrendered to the non-existent moon men? That sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926/55 "2018-01-09T02:31:03Z")
If you really want it to last a million years, even stone is not likely to do it. At least not anywhere exposed to atmosphere or any sort of other erosion. If you really want a book, I’d suggest binding thin sheets of platinum. Harder and higher melting point, maybe less likely to be cut up for bangles than gold. And you could coat the pages with polycrystalline diamond for extra abrasion resistance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-book-that-will-last-a-million-years/805926.md?page=2)