# How to tell if your current book is old **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [May 19, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759 "2024-05-19T04:29:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/41 "2024-05-19T22:11:21Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > There are no spaces between the words. And it is written on parchment. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/42 "2024-05-20T00:11:29Z")
It’s set hundreds of years in the future, but _still_ all the women are homemakers. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/43 "2024-05-20T00:41:16Z")
“I hope you’ve got color film” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/44 "2024-05-20T00:46:32Z")
Yeah. In my experience it’s the opposite of “old books are the ones falling apart”; _newer_ books are falling apart after only a few years while I have books from decades ago that are in better condition than them. The newer the book, the faster the deterioration. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/45 "2024-05-20T00:54:59Z")
A character gets home from work and checks their answering machine. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/46 "2024-05-20T01:09:57Z")
The protagonist hides in a phone booth. Or a video rental store. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/47 "2024-05-20T03:44:51Z")
McDonald’s having table service (where they bring the food to you when you’re seated) In fact I think almost all fast food places have transitioned away from table service now they just call your name and you pick up your tray yourself UNLESS it’s an absolutely dead day for them. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/48 "2024-05-20T03:57:14Z")
And the typeface is Caledonia. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/49 "2024-05-20T03:58:41Z")
The quality of the binding can vary widely, then and now. Books for children, or best-selling fiction, is often not bound as well as, for instance, classics. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/50 "2024-05-20T04:43:48Z")
The protagonist has to duck into a business to ask for change for the pay phone. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/51 "2024-05-20T05:02:11Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > When a farm boy plowing the back forty with a mule aspires to become a starship pilot. For which it helps that he’s memorized the entire book of logarithms. But seriously though, when has there ever been any kind of situation not ameliorated by knowing the table of logarithms? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/52 "2024-05-20T05:05:26Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > McDonald’s having table service (where they bring the food to you when you’re seated) McDonald’s has table service right now. Every McDonald’s I’ve dined in at since covid, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/53 "2024-05-20T05:07:41Z")
The computer display is a printer, or better yet. an automatic typewriter. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/54 "2024-05-20T05:58:21Z")
Each chapter is headed with a sentence or two summarizing the contents of the chapter, usually starting with “In which …”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/55 "2024-05-20T07:12:48Z")
Germany has more than one capital city. Greece has a king. A world traveler has just gotten back from Tehran via Palestine after a lengthy excursion to Siam, Outer Mongolia, and Ceylon. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/56 "2024-05-20T08:24:42Z")
True if based in the US but plenty of countries where that could happen in a modern book. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/57 "2024-05-20T08:29:09Z")
Dispite being based in 2024 (or earlier) the main protagonist takes a flying car to the spaceport before travelling to mars. Urgent news is passed on via telegram. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/58 "2024-05-20T10:54:44Z")
The s’s look like f’s. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/59 "2024-05-20T11:29:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > … and Ceylon. You misspelled Serendip 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759/60 "2024-05-20T11:36:39Z")
When the detective staking out the subject has to go into town to use the pay phone to call in, and the subject slips out while he’s gone . . . . . . . . . . . . (An actual Nero Wolfe plot point) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-tell-if-your-current-book-is-old/1001759.md?page=4)