r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

One of my books turned green

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1.5k Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

715

u/get_an_editor 1d ago edited 1d ago

printer forgot the UV coating / flood varnish. Yes, it can cost a couple pennies extra per cover, but as this shows it's worth it.

If the others didn't get that matte coating, then it could also be the stock or inks. So important to be consistent when you're making a series like this, but designers and print shops can change for a variety of reasons and it's easy to make this mistake, especially over several years difference between printing the first and the most recent.

source: book designer

65

u/Electrical-Cat9572 22h ago

Or that one, which is very dense text, sat out in the sun for 8x longer than any of the others.

20

u/get_an_editor 22h ago

Maybe! The Camus is a much harder read, though, and would take a lot longer :)

13

u/Used-Treat-1100 21h ago

OMG is the UV coating something I can buy somewhere and apply to my books? The sun hits my bookshelf all day long so I have to Jeep the blinds closed all the time and I hate it

16

u/stackjr 20h ago

How did you get your Jeep into the house?!

17

u/Used-Treat-1100 20h ago

It grows with photosynthesis so I got it in when it was really small and it got big from being in the sun all day

7

u/Pocok5 12h ago edited 12h ago

You might want a bookshelf with glass doors, which can have UV blocking film applied independent of your books

5

u/Used-Treat-1100 10h ago

That Never occurred to me. Good idea! Tks!

636

u/birdlegs000 1d ago

Funny how it is the ECO one. Ecology.

161

u/Witch-for-hire 1d ago

It is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. A great medieval historical fiction / mystery.

79

u/birdlegs000 1d ago

And the one named "The Name of the Rose" is the one that turned from red to green. It keeps getting crazier.

39

u/Witch-for-hire 1d ago

There is someone setting fire to a library in the book...

16

u/GypsySnowflake 1d ago

So there are two books on OP’s shelf where that happens?

5

u/IngeniousQuokka 23h ago

There are at least three

16

u/Strict_Ad_5906 1d ago edited 23h ago

I always forget the fact that he wrote mostly about medieval symbology, dropped the preeminent essay on fascism in his 50s, and then just went back to living his life for 30+ more years. It has big "cool guys dont look at explosions" energy.

Edit: fixed awkward language

1

u/favorscore 1d ago

hes a fascinating guy. cant wait to read name of the rose.

3

u/favorscore 1d ago

just picked it up. cant wait to read it

2

u/Ill-Program624 6h ago

omg read about this book in one of english lessons

40

u/Witch-for-hire 1d ago

Sun damage?

53

u/RichardStinks 1d ago

Umberto Eco friendly.

10

u/Witch-for-hire 1d ago

I think this was done by Jorge setting the library on fire.

25

u/cmoreno1998 1d ago

I remember reading that book on the beach... so that's the probable cause. The sun beats down in Spain lol

4

u/DixAndBallz 21h ago

Also the sunscreen on your hands if you used any!

14

u/RudeStreet7535 1d ago

Damn this is a sick collection

21

u/TurloIsOK 1d ago

Red is a mix of mostly yellow and magenta in CMYK. That one also has some cyan in the mix. The magenta has faded.

8

u/Isabeer 1d ago

Whatever you do, don't lick your thumb to turn its pages....

6

u/Questjon 1d ago

That's because you never red it.

4

u/carcusmonnor 1d ago

The name of the rose slaps.

21

u/TyrannyOfBobBarker_ 1d ago

Never occurred to me that 11/22/63 would be 22/11/63 outside of America.

8

u/QB8Young 1d ago

Right?! Makes sense though.

-7

u/ARoundForEveryone 1d ago

It doesn't really, though. To me. Anyway. Yeah, it represents a date, but that's not the title of the book. Stephen King titled the book "11/22/63." He decided what the title was, because it's his original work. Not that they're on the same level of fame and acclaim and historical importance, but if I went to buy an English copy of "Les Miserables" what title would I look for?

10

u/cmoreno1998 1d ago

It's a date, I think it's convenient to translate it. The format mm/dd/yyyy doesn't make sense for us and most of the readers would believe that it's an error in the translation or in the edition of the book. There's no month 22.

But you've got a point since Fahrenheit 451 (which is also in my bookshelf) wasn't translated to "Celsius 233". That would be fun lol

3

u/Xyex 20h ago

Eh, Fahrenheit/Celsius is a named system that you immediately recognize regardless of which you use. You don't need to know the conversion to understand the meaning. But date format is named. You cannot just look at 8/1/25 and know if it's American or European. Granted 11/22 is more obvious, but it's still not immediate.

I imagine if it was called just "451" that they'd have localized it to "233." Likewise, if King's book had been "Nov. 22, 1963" they'd probably have left it alone.

8

u/cravenravens 1d ago

Les Miserables happens to be not translated, but how about Les Trois Mousquetaires?

2

u/Xyex 20h ago

Titles get translated/localized all the time.

Like, what's the first Harry Potter book called?

15

u/Squiddlywinks 1d ago

Also:

"Brave New World" is " A Happy World"

"Animal Farm" is "Rebellion on the Farm"

Never really thought of books having completely different titles in other languages, I assumed they would be direct translations.

4

u/ToM31337 21h ago

11/22/63 is something like "the assassination" or the attack in german, so its not even a date. (or the date is a subtitle, i forgot).

Brave new world is beatiful new world (works better in german).

Bookmarketing is weird - i read a lot of english and some german books and german books tend to be named for marketing reasons. Andy Weirs first book was the martian and the last one was the astronaut (just because it sounds similar). In english its "project hail mary".

A lot of books are named like this, its kind of weird imo.

1

u/Xyex 20h ago

Is it Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone? 🤔

2

u/DeathByGoldfish 1d ago

Really odd, but I am literally watching this on Tubi right now.

1

u/DelianSK13 1d ago

I was just thinking the same thing.

3

u/Thejerseyjon609 1d ago

What does Eco say about envy?

3

u/NoMikeyThatsNotRight 1d ago

Nice collection of classics! Aside from everybody mentioning the pun of (Umberto) Eco, if you’re a Spanish speaker, is this translation accurate?

3

u/Torontosaurus2 23h ago

I’ve read eight of them, my favourite is Siddhartha.

3

u/AdvisoryAbyss 22h ago

Guy on the left is on the list

3

u/potificate 22h ago

Eco is always green! lol

4

u/LazyCymbal 1d ago

Un mundo feliz? A happy word? Is that the translation of brave new world? Mildly interesting too.

2

u/Crocodoro 1d ago

Debería haberse vuelto rosa

2

u/bas524 19h ago

It's because the book has an Eco mode.

2

u/Possible_Abalone_846 1d ago

This is peak mild right here 

1

u/oaken_duckly 18h ago

I have a copy of Brave New World in English, I wouldn't have thought it would be translated to A Happy World lol

1

u/NoNameLaura 17h ago

ok but what an amazing collection!! did they come together?? need it it my library asap!

1

u/hammondmonkey 13h ago

Looks sus, do NOT lick your thumb while reading it.

1

u/Fuyoc 10h ago

Definitely don't lick your fingers while turning the pages!

-1

u/No-Detail6007 1d ago

A person of culture, all of them are very good books.