A tip for copying content from books

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Reply #1 - 2008 August 04, 7:45 pm
Zarxrax Member
From: North Carolina Registered: 2008-03-24 Posts: 949

If you are anything like me, then you probably find trying to copy sentences out of a book to be a very painful experience. I mean, you have to sit there and try to hold your book open with one hand, and try to type one-handed, or perhaps use something to keep your book held down, maybe damaging the book in the process.

Of course, that pen scanner thing is an option, but I'd prefer not to spend 200 bucks on it. I checked online and saw that there are a ton of cheap little things out there that are designed for the sole purpose of just holding books open! So I decided to go out today and try to find one. After two hours of running around to different stores I was still empty handed... but then on my way back home, an idea came to me!

I went and grabbed my digital camera and took a snapshot of a page from a book. No good, the flash completely washed out the image... so then I increased the zoom on my camera and held it back farther from the page. BINGO! I proceeded to snap about 20 pages from my book, only took me a couple minutes. Now I open up the images and adjust the levels, and the text is perfectly readable. Now just arrange my windows so they are side by side... and... YES, I can look at the text and then type it in at the same time!

Reply #2 - 2008 August 04, 9:05 pm
Transparent_Aluminium Member
From: Canada Registered: 2008-06-30 Posts: 168

That's how google scans books. Except that apparently their camera can scan 1000 pages an hour. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Book_Search)

Reply #3 - 2008 August 04, 9:19 pm
rich_f Member
From: north carolina Registered: 2007-07-12 Posts: 1708

I wonder if you could just take a bunch of pictures, batch-convert them to grayscale, then just dump them in OCR software. Can't be all that hard to do, and it would probably be faster than using an actual scanner. (At least mine-- it's slower than mud.)

I know some people on the mobileread forums do similar things to convert their favorite books to e-books.

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Reply #4 - 2008 August 04, 9:35 pm
sutebun Member
From: Oregon Registered: 2007-06-29 Posts: 172

1. Go to local bookstore.
2. Find something like this. http://www.bookgem.com/home.htm
I got an $8 one at Powell's books. Its mechanism is like the one in the link, but it doesn't have legs to hold the book up.

3. Reap the benefits of saved time and much relived stress as you never try to hold a book open with one hand and type in your SRS with the other.

Last edited by sutebun (2008 August 04, 9:35 pm)

Reply #5 - 2008 August 04, 11:05 pm
stehr Member
From: california Registered: 2007-09-25 Posts: 281

I just made my book holder by bending a coat-hanger into shape, saved 8$

Reply #6 - 2008 August 04, 11:10 pm
rich_f Member
From: north carolina Registered: 2007-07-12 Posts: 1708

Also, after futzing with the pen scanner for a while, I'd say to skip it for good OCR software and some other combination... The only places where the pen shines are in places where you only need to scan one or two things per page, and you don't want to wait 2-3 minutes to scan each page just to get one sentence, or in places where you're going mobile/light and don't have any other way to get images in.

Reply #7 - 2008 August 04, 11:15 pm
phauna Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2007-12-25 Posts: 500 Website

I just chock up my laptop on some kid's blocks, and then slide the top part of the book underneath.  Works great and is free.

Reply #8 - 2008 August 05, 12:26 am
Zarxrax Member
From: North Carolina Registered: 2008-03-24 Posts: 949

rich_f wrote:

I wonder if you could just take a bunch of pictures, batch-convert them to grayscale, then just dump them in OCR software. Can't be all that hard to do, and it would probably be faster than using an actual scanner. (At least mine-- it's slower than mud.)

I know some people on the mobileread forums do similar things to convert their favorite books to e-books.

I tried it but didnt get good results, but the material wasnt the best for ocr anyways. I'll try it on a better book tommorrow.

Reply #9 - 2008 August 05, 7:47 pm
yukamina Member
From: Canada Registered: 2006-01-09 Posts: 761

I got a wire book holder form a stationary store for a few dollars. It comes in handy for taking notes from books...Basically, when I need a book open while typing/writing something else. Unfortunately, my Japanese light novels are too small for it.

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