Double Fold by Nicholson Baker, Random House, $25.95, ISBN
0375504443
TAKE a book, open it and fold over the corner of a page to form a small
triangle, smoothing down the crease. Then unfold and fold it back the other way.
Smooth down the crease. Unfold. Now give the corner a brisk tug. If the page
breaks, throw the book away. That, believe it or not, is seen by some as a
scientific way of appraising the physical condition of a book.
Writer Nicholson Baker has been watching the barbarians camping at the gates
of libraries. In Double Fold he…
