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In this question, John Y refers to a printed version of a book as "dead-tree book". I found that amuzing and started to wonder what the opposite of such term would be.

Of course, the popular term would be "electronic book". However, I'd like to retain the style of the original wording.

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Konrad Viltersten
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    In the US, at least, most electric power is derived from fossil fuels, so an ebook, too, could legitimately be described as "dead-tree". – StoneyB on hiatus Jun 01 '14 at 11:56
  • @StoneyB So the question "will the book by in dead-tree or dead-tree?" actually is grammatically and semantically correct?! It makes no sense, of course, and is as useful as a pocket on the back of a shirt but still... We need to specify whether the demise of said trees occurred during a cataclysmic events or industrial slashing. – Konrad Viltersten Jun 01 '14 at 12:01
  • Perhaps someone more technologically knowledgeable than I could suggest what resource it is that computers/displays exhaust -- rare earths? – StoneyB on hiatus Jun 01 '14 at 12:03
  • A live-tree book? (Or would that just sound like those “L <3 J” scratchings kids make on bark?) – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jun 01 '14 at 12:07
  • @StoneyB Patience, mostly. I suppose one could refer a dead Jobs book, but that's a bit dark. – Spehro Pefhany Jun 01 '14 at 12:58
  • How about a *carbon-friendly* copy of the book? – FumbleFingers Jun 01 '14 at 13:50
  • A read-only book? :) – Neil W Jun 01 '14 at 14:20
  • @FumbleFingers Why carbon-friendly? Do I miss something obvious? I can't see any carbon related waste with printed books. Nor do I see any decrease in carbon footprint when using electronic dito. – Konrad Viltersten Jun 01 '14 at 19:09
  • @Neil That misses the witty aspect. Besides, one can edit most of the material electronically even it might get some hacking to do so. :) – Konrad Viltersten Jun 01 '14 at 19:10
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    @Konrad: Postulate an ideal world where everyone has the capacity to read both dead-tree and e-books. And that someones write a fabulous book that everyone needs to read. I put it to you that the amount of carbon that will eventually end up messing up the environment would far greater if the publishers decide to go for hard copy. – FumbleFingers Jun 01 '14 at 19:20
  • @FumbleFingers QED! Agreed. However, it's a bit too far-fetched to use on people who aren't you or I (and possibly those who've read this particular thread). – Konrad Viltersten Jun 01 '14 at 19:27
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    @Konrad: We must console ourselves with the thought that relatively few trees would be harmed if every single person on the planet felt impelled to read our deathless prose here. (I'm assuming that most internet servers aren't powered by wood-burning stoves! :) – FumbleFingers Jun 01 '14 at 21:10

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How about a live-wire book? The e-book can't appear without electricity, and that's going to involve a live wire somewhere. (though we might need to allow a conductive trace on a circuit board to be signfied as a "wire")

The trouble with any "clever" alternative to the standard term "e-book", is that you're probably going to spend so much time explaining your alternative, that its snappiness is wasted.

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  • Wiki. Even ebooks can be slow to make edits part of the text. Even "live" ebooks through services like amazon or safari can suffer this. A wiki is continually corrected and the edits are available to most readers very quickly. – Jason M Jun 01 '14 at 19:02
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How about tree-friendly books, paper-free books, and save-a-tree books?

Elian
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How about :-

"No-tree-dead book"

moonstar
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