Booksi: Old Books Reborn As iPhone Chargers

Print's not dead, it's just being put to new use. That’s the idea behind booksi, a line of iPhone and iPad chargers made from old books. The designers behind booksi are Rich and Brenna Neeley of Rich Neeley Designs. They started selling their creations in February 2011 out of southern California and have been running an Etsy shop to peddle their literature meets tech designs. They are also currently hosting a deal at Fab.com.

Brenna majored in comparative literature in college and her love of books played large part in her wedding with Rich -- and the eventual inspiration for booksi. “We got married and Brenna’s books took over the decoration,” Rich recounted in an interview with Etsy. “Her dad made us bookshelves for the altar, and we had book centerpieces on the tables. Then, in the aftermath, she had piles of leftover books that didn’t make the cut. This inspired me to create our product. I’d had the idea for a long time, but I hadn’t done anything with it. After the wedding I had the time to think and stacks of books to work with.”

Apart from the wedding the couple had also used books for home decor between coasters, shelves, paperweights and nightstands. Rich and Brenna find many of the books abandoned or forgotten and repurpose them for an entirely new function. Users can charge their iPods, iPhones and even iPads directly on top of their booksi, with the connection emerging and secured into the cover. The charger/dock books range from $42 to $80 on Etsy and Fab.

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Comments

[nbongo]

04:13 PM on 11/12/2012

Never destroy a book!

[jhNY]

03:30 PM on 04/29/2012

This is a dual use item-- by which I don't mean, that the book might also be a book as well as a phone charger, since the guts of the book, or some portion, must be removed for the recharger electronics. But if the kitchen table sits unevenly on the floor, the recharger/book, once it's electronic guts have failed or have been phased out by technological advance, can still be used to even out the table legs, by placing the former charger under the shortest leg.

Interestingly, this is also another use for old books without interior rechargers too!

[Ian OFull]

11:32 AM on 04/29/2012

The books that didn't make the cut could have been donated. Who thinks about destroying a book?

[Chinawanderer]

06:55 AM on 04/29/2012

This is NOT a love of books. Anyone who claims to love books would never do this. Books are to be read and reread. They are not decorative accents. A closed, unread book is like the mind of someone who doesn't read--a block of wood. A book that is sliced up for such purposes is the act of a barbarian.

[jhNY]

03:39 PM on 04/29/2012

Ever see those false doors that were much beloved in the Victorian era--- a wall of leather-bound tomes, swinging back with a click by a hidden release to reveal a hidden corridor or storage area? Many of those doors looked very realistic, because in a way, they were: Earnest labor was expended by painstaking craftsmen at the task of sawing real books in two just past their spines. The spine bits were glued close together side by side, the sawed surface then glued to the door.

Had they used whole books, those false doors would have weighed too much to swing easily back at the touch of the hidden release. Or had they used whole books, they would still have needed to glue them down to prevent them tumbling out as the door swung away.

It's a philistine tradition, this book mutilation business, of long standing.

[Chinawanderer]

09:33 PM on 04/29/2012

Oh, yes. I also remember the scene with the professor in the library in "The Great Gatsby" where he is impressed that Gatsby used real books but hadn't gone so far as to cut the pages open.

But neither Gatsby nor the Victorians with their doors claimed they did these things because they "love books" as this couple of philistines do.

[Christopher Eric Kulbeda]

01:23 PM on 04/28/2012

Goodwill, a little time with minimal tools/effort and I can make these by the dozens for much less. IF I felt the need for this.

[Kenneth Caldwell]

12:30 PM on 04/28/2012

how much did huff post get paid to "advertise" this

[Paulie12]

08:36 AM on 04/28/2012

Who the hell would pay $42 - $80 for this anyway - you get a charger when you buy the phone.

[c-tom]

05:02 PM on 04/29/2012

It's a select group - there is only one born every minute.

[dmoongo]

08:26 AM on 04/28/2012

Old books are like old friends. They should be visited regularly.

[nightfrt]

11:23 AM on 04/28/2012

and destroying the written word is a travesty for humanity.... Paper books should be preserved, not destroyed or "re purposed"

[Coz McRae]

11:35 AM on 04/28/2012

I agree. I can't see how that is "love of books." It seems barbarous to me.

[orenreb]

07:35 AM on 04/28/2012

“But by accident, not by cunning calculation, books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to manipulation, involve our hands and eyes, and then our minds and souls, in a spiritual adventure I would be very sorry for my grandchildren not to know about.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake

[leavesbound]

04:19 AM on 04/28/2012

Yet another brilliant idea by the illiterati. Recently I visited a friend's house. They had decorated their living room with antique book cases filled with fake antique books. That's right, fake books! One entire wall covered in fake books all made from single sheets of plastic painted to look like old books. My friend does not actually own so much as a single real book. She even had the audacity to sugest I trim off the spines of my own books and mount them on the wall as decoration. I am sickened by what our society is turning into.

[c1rcu1tn3rd]

03:38 AM on 04/28/2012

It wouldn't surprise me if one day kids will ask what a book is

[m320753]

02:53 AM on 04/28/2012

one problem i have with my thesaurus is; i can't find another word for thesaurus. anyone who takes a book and makes it into anything other than the literature is was intended to be should be hog tied and have hershey's syrup poured on their heads and let the tiny critters in the yard have a banquet. just remember those dusty old boks on your shelf are gonna need cleaning if you make them chargers or napkin holders or another place the sneak drinker can cut the pages to hold a of their favorite morning drink. read about one guy that hid $100 bils in his books and years later sold them at a tag sale. be careful what we do to books; if they all turn into decorative articles we'll be stuck with only the internet for enjoyment

[Carlos Lomba Jr]

01:37 AM on 04/28/2012

I find it unlikable myself....next he will install speakers and call it a boombook :(

[kmjj]

11:35 AM on 04/28/2012

hee-hee!

[zarcady]

01:08 PM on 04/28/2012

Geez... Carlos!! Now that you've posted it you'd better patent the idea or these folks will create the three piece set. Charger/player in the middle with a speaker book on each side..

[Carlos Lomba Jr]

01:48 PM on 04/28/2012

I was just thinking about that. Lol

[DFred]

10:12 PM on 04/27/2012

It's bad enough that kids are reading less because of texting, video games and cell phones, so now lets just destroy a usable book to use as a storage/recharge facility for an iPad or iPhone.
Brilliant. I'm really confused here. Do they have a bible version for the religious student?

[undrgrndgirl]

09:51 PM on 04/27/2012

i'm sorry, but i think this is STUPID...each one of those books was still usable as a...book! they all look like they were in good condition and some of them looked collectible...lit majors may think this is ok, but i don't think the librarians in my family would approve!

[Chinawanderer]

07:18 AM on 04/29/2012

No body who enjoys literature including lit majors would think this is okay.