What is the correct method for tearing a telephone book in half?
Be really, really strong. That’s how Charles Atlas did it. (According to him, anyway.)
Failing that, try a table saw.
From this cached page:
Open it to the middle & tear it vertically down the spine. Sure, this isn’t what YOU meant, but it’s a great way to win a bar bet. 
My Grandfather can still tear a Los Angeles telephone book in half at age 68 and with terminal brain cancer.
Part of the “trick” is of course to be incredibly strong. But the part that most people apparently don’t know is described below as best as I can do with actually showing you…
Grab the book at the top with your fists, palms down. It is imperitive that you have a ridiculously tight grip more than anything. Once you’re holding on as tight as you can, begin to bend your fists down and away from each other without letting up on your grip. Instead of tearing it like you would a peice of paper, you want to try to “break” it like you would a peice of plywood.
I work out pretty regularly and the last time I tried I still couldn’t do it, so good luck.
Any questions?
My previous post was, of course, explaining how to tear a phone book in half vertically. The horizontal way you describe seems too easy to impress anyone.
I remember a method I read in a magic tricks book, years ago. The phone book was ‘cooked’ in an oven for… I don’t remember how long… and naturally at a very low heat setting…and the result was a phone book that was dried out like a book of dead leaves. Tearing it was now fairly easy. I guess. :rolleyes: