Boy Scout Handbook Survey

[Trevorum]

BSA "... will soon begin the process of developing the twelfth edition of the Boy Scout Handbook and would like to give you the opportunity to share your suggestions for the new edition... "

 

See http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/survey/index.html

 

 

[stevejb]

I think it is nice that they are actually asking our opinion on it.

 

Steve B

Scoutmaster

[FireKat]

Will they really listen or will the money people have the final say?

My son is on his second handbook since crossing over 3 yrs ago and this one is also falling apart. I even got the plastic cover and had him keep it in a bible book case but due to the number of times certain pages are looked at some of the pages are now falling out.  I have a feeling that they want parents to buy more books but that means his records are all over the place.  Plus, how many parents have the time to continously transfer information from one book to another.  Anyone else have this problem and/or a solution?

Thanx

[FScouter]

What the conspiricy theorists fail to mention is that Handbooks with defective bindings and pages falling out may be returned to the Scout Shop for free replacement.

[OneHour]

The same glue-on binding that didn't work 30 years ago when I was a Tenderfoot, still doesn't work today! The spiral bind version was the way to go! Now, my son can actually put the book down in front of him and look at the illustration on the knots and try it, instead of putting one knee on the book while trying to stabilize himself and work at the knot! The only problem is that the spiral bound costs $15 more!!!!!! As for a collector's item, the hardbound is still very good!

 

FScouter, there are handbooks that actually stay together? Of all of the glue-on binding handbooks in our troop, not a single one stayed together no matter how careful the scout is!

 

Trev, I tried to submit my 2 cents but it will not allow me!

[Trevorum]

I like the new spiral binding. Makes it more convenient

 

On my son's 2nd or 3rd campout, he left his handbook outside his tent. Of course it rained that night. He salvaged the several sign-off pages, dried them out, and taped the tattered remnants into a new book. And he learned a lesson about responsibility (and about Texas weather).

[MaScout]

Library glue works quite well & lasts a long time. Ask at your local public or school library for a squirt...saves having to transfer all that information.

[SR540Beaver]

Firekat,

 

Yes, they will really listen. The new pants are a direct result of surveys done by BSA thru their website.

 

My experience has been that the handbook more often falls apart based on how it is treated. I can't tell you the number of bloated books I've seen that have been left laying on the ground or tables and rained on at camp. I've seen them thrown, kicked and just about everything else you can think of. I carry and use my copy of the handbook to every meeting and every campout....more often than many boys do...and mine still looks brand new.

[infoscouter]

The BSA handbooks are bound using a process called "perfect binding" - a misnomer if there ever was one. Good, old fashioned book binding consists of sewing the individual signatures (groups of pages) together.

 

This is an expensive process, even if done with a machine. Perfect binding glues the signatures to the spine of the book cover. It is a less expensive process than sewing. As others have noted, abuse will make "perfect bound" books fall apart more easily.

 

Libraries constantly battle this fact. We buy perfect bound books because we have no choice - paperbacks only come this way, and buying paperbacks allows us to offer more copies of books to more borrowers. Many publishers only offer their books as "trade paperbacks".

 

Unfortunately, patrons drop books in bathtubs, lay them flat on their face (really hard on glued bindings), put them on the driveway when they're fixing the car and then drive over them, and generally abuse them until they fall apart. Then we try to replace them, but often they've gone out of print.

 

I expect the coil bound books will present their own challenges. Coil bindings also are hard on the pages (anybody ever have one of those church cookbooks fall apart on you?) At least with the perfect bound books you can reglue the pages or "tip" them in, using tape. Tipping pages back into a coil bound book is a real challenge, since there is no gutter to tape the page into, you end up taping the loose page on top of an existing page.

 

I don't know that there's a perfect way to bind a paperback book. Older, really good paperbacks sewed the signatures together and *then* glued the cover on. This too makes the book more expensive.

 

Sigh.

 

Sorry for the lenghth - you hit one of my [professional hot buttons!

[FScouter]

Thanks for the in-depth information about bookbinding. The best feature about the spiral binding is the lay-flat feature. It is to be expected that the selling price will be higher. Punching the holes and screwing in the spiral surely is not a speedy mechanical process, and must be much more costly to manufacture.

 

When the 11th edition was released, BSA and the supplier recognized that there was a batch (or two) released that had defective bindings, even for a paperback, thus the free replacement guarantee. Scouts, being honorable, were not expected to demand replacement for abused Handbooks, only defective Handbooks. Mine is still serviceable, but has a weak spine. I've helped several boys tape loose pages (tip?) rather than opt for a new book, guaranteed or not. A Scout is thrifty and takes care of his belongings.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I am a library borrower myself and every time I work on the truck, which is often, I intentionally put my borrowed books on the driveway beside me so that when I finish, I can roll over and read a few pages with my greasy hands. I do admit to then putting them face down on the drive while inadvertently backing over them with my old beat-up pickup but now I know that is a mistake. A Scout is clean so I then take them to the bathtub with me and read them while taking a Mr. Bubble bath. I sometimes ask myself if these practices are necessary but how else will I get my old P.U going again.

 

A guy has to get to Scouts.

 

FB

[SR540Beaver]

One can only assume that it was Fuzzy who as a youth would offer his handbook to be used as the flag in capture the flag.