There is nothing more satisfying to a reader (and a writer) than a
worn and dilapidated book. It is...so fulfilling. Just by looking at it
for a few microseconds you begin to feel proud/content with your
vocabulary and literary achievements. If placed on a coffee table or
somewhere in the living room, it will surely elicit praise and
admiration from your guests and friends, as a symbol of your literacy
and knowledge. (Irrespective of the fact that you've read it or not.)
A
few coffee stains, spills here and there. Folded pages. Randomly
underlined texts (a personal experience from trying to highlight
important portions of course books which inadvertently ended up coloring
the entire book, instead of specific important sections). A few A4
printing sheets scribbled with notes, diagrams and barely legible
re-quotations from the texts bibliography, index and chapter summaries.
These A4 sheets can be aged by again spilling them over with drinks,
food stuffs (avoid the cooking oil-stains - it looks unprofessional and
makes you look sloppy), ink spills and then blow dried with a
hair-dryer. The blow drying will create a little discolored tone
representing age (Thank you, Neal Caffery!).
I saw the protagonist of The Invention of Lying, dousing the document in coffee, to colorize it. Though, I've no personal experience with it (coffee). Oh! I forgot to mention some of these new printing pages are specially treated to avoid yellowish colorization which would make it quite difficult. Then, go for cheapest available A4 sheets or ripped out notebook pages. Also, fold the book carelessly to create the creases and folds in the covers, in case of paper backs.
Voila! You've successfully faked the use of your voluminous books that you abhor reading and yet, can con your guests in believing otherwise!
My personal tip: Read the Wikipedia summary of the books to get a brief idea in mere minutes before bluffing, else, your intelligent and knowledgeable guests will call your bluff. In my personal experience I have completely conned my old teacher who had assigned us to write a paper on Noam Chomsky.
Keep a deck around anytime and just place one card whenever you need to bookmark.
How this adds to your forging the used look is by adding a card/book-mark every few chapters. The voluminous the book is the better the placing of the bookmarks appears. Those who are aware of your habit and practice of such book-marking will assume you've read a lot of the text and considered marking the pages for future reference.
I got this idea after my personal experience of bookmarking voluminous programming books. I used to first brainstorm a software/program I'd want to build. Then, I'd explore the Index and the Glossary for requisite locations and sections of text I'd have to refer, read, learn, understand or just mark for future reference.
Many a times I bookmarked all those important sections I did NOT know and intended TO DO. My friends would look at me holding the book with all its bookmarks jutting out and remark that I had thoroughly studied the material. When I tried to explain them my purpose of bookmarking, they still did not believe. In hindsight I can say that, if I did not know the actual material but, would surely know which page, chapter and section to look for answers.
Other Links to Checkout:
1. White Collar TV Series.
2. Hellblazer comic which tells the tale of the world's greatest conman and occult detective.
This gives me an idea...I should pick up a few second hand
encyclopedias or thick voluminous books like War & Peace, Lord of
the Rings or instead defile some of the technical programming books I
have lying around here being rarely used and in mint condition, How to Program Java by Deitel & Deitel would work wonders. Having watched a few seasons of White Collar and one movie, The Invention of Lying, I've been quite educated in the art of forging the rugged, aged and worn out look and feel in artifacts.
I saw the protagonist of The Invention of Lying, dousing the document in coffee, to colorize it. Though, I've no personal experience with it (coffee). Oh! I forgot to mention some of these new printing pages are specially treated to avoid yellowish colorization which would make it quite difficult. Then, go for cheapest available A4 sheets or ripped out notebook pages. Also, fold the book carelessly to create the creases and folds in the covers, in case of paper backs.
Voila! You've successfully faked the use of your voluminous books that you abhor reading and yet, can con your guests in believing otherwise!
My personal tip: Read the Wikipedia summary of the books to get a brief idea in mere minutes before bluffing, else, your intelligent and knowledgeable guests will call your bluff. In my personal experience I have completely conned my old teacher who had assigned us to write a paper on Noam Chomsky.
Addendum:
I have one (proudly) unique habit of using playing cards ranging from "Duel Masters", "Yu Gi Oh!", "Magic: The Gathering", Standard Playing Cards and other trading card games (like Pokemon, which I abhor. The set of cards was an old gift, by the way. And, sports player flash cards) as bookmarks.
Keep a deck around anytime and just place one card whenever you need to bookmark.
How this adds to your forging the used look is by adding a card/book-mark every few chapters. The voluminous the book is the better the placing of the bookmarks appears. Those who are aware of your habit and practice of such book-marking will assume you've read a lot of the text and considered marking the pages for future reference.
I got this idea after my personal experience of bookmarking voluminous programming books. I used to first brainstorm a software/program I'd want to build. Then, I'd explore the Index and the Glossary for requisite locations and sections of text I'd have to refer, read, learn, understand or just mark for future reference.
Many a times I bookmarked all those important sections I did NOT know and intended TO DO. My friends would look at me holding the book with all its bookmarks jutting out and remark that I had thoroughly studied the material. When I tried to explain them my purpose of bookmarking, they still did not believe. In hindsight I can say that, if I did not know the actual material but, would surely know which page, chapter and section to look for answers.
Other Links to Checkout:
1. White Collar TV Series.
2. Hellblazer comic which tells the tale of the world's greatest conman and occult detective.
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