Textbook Hack

I read on metafilter a great idea for hacking textbooks so I don't have to carry around case books all day. The metafilter contributor brought his books to a copy store, but I did it myself to save money.

The idea is to cut the books off of their binding, punch holes in them, and then only take the pages you need for the week.

Here it is, step by step:
















Gather your supplies: 3" or 4" binder, hole punch, case book, ruler, utility knife

















Place the ruler flush against the spine. Hold the ruler firmly down, while drawing the utility knife down the page. If I pressed the knife down I could get about twenty pages in a single pass.
















(The book, with about 75% of the pages cut out)
















Then use a three-hole punch to punch three holes (!).
















Because the pages are not quite 11" long, you can't use the bottom edge of the punch to align the pages. I used the top of the punch, and tried to line the top of the pages up as consistently as possible.
















(All the pages in the binder)
















I think I might get a 3" binder next time. This one is 4" and is quite unwieldy.
















I even put the cover in the binder!
















Here's the payoff: bringing 20 pages of Criminal Law to class instead of 1100!