Waterproof Books Will Seriously Up Your Bath Game

You would never risk your beloved, worn copy of your favorite book by taking it into the bath. One false move and you have a bath full of ink and sopping wet paper. And an e-reader? Shampoo hands get slippery and not even a bag of rice could save it from a dip in the soapy bubbles. But a new Kickstarter campaign for waterproof books, Bibliobath, is trying to change everything about your bathing routine — and probably annoy your roommates because you'll be busy reading all of Shakespeare's comedies in a relaxing bubble bath until you're fingers get pruney. Now all you have to worry about is getting shampoo in your eyes during the best part.

The Netherlands-based Bibliobath aims to raise $10,140 on Kickstarter to produce entirely waterproof books of some classic works of literature, starting with four titanic titles: William Shakespeare's Macbeth , a collection of Mark Twain short stories, W.B. Yeats's Cloths of Heaven and Other Poems, and Sun Tzu's The Art of War . (Hopefully some of these dollars can go into more female-centered titles, too.)

According to Bibiobath's Kickstarter page:

What works for us is to relax in a hot bath, switch off our phones and settle into a great literary classic. But paper and water don't mix, and an iPad in a plastic sheet just doesn't do it for us. We want to read, not skim and swipe. That is why we are creating fully waterproof versions of great works of literature and poetry.

And the waterproof books will be made from a recyclable synthetic paper, which will keep the ink from dripping all over you when wet:

After some testing we now have blank prototypes of the books with fully waterproof binding and paper. We have also tested the ink at various water temperatures and soap types. The books will be made of synthetic paper made from polypropylene, which is fully waterproof but feels like real paper at a thickness of just 0.085 mm. No trees are used in the production of the materials, which is fully recyclable (in case it is incinerated with the trash it will be completely burned without any toxic byproducts).

Bibliobath hopes to have its first products for release this October. It currently has a bit more than half of its funding goal, so now it's up to the rest of us to contribute before July 15. By next summer, with waterproof books, we can all change what "beach read" really means. And finally you can mosey up to a swim-up bar to a cutie reading Yeats poetry. I'm already planning the most epic hot tub relaxation reading evening ever if anyone else wants in.

Image: orionpozo/Flickr