Waterproof Paperback Available Next Summer

This would have been a good idea a decade ago: a book so waterproof it can be be left out in the rain or dropped into the tub. Now it just feels a little too little too late. From The Telegraph:

A clear wax sealant will prevent running ink and stop pages from becoming soggy and tearing when wet.

The tough polymer coating is tear-resistant and promises to increase a title's shelf-life by up to 200 per cent.

Since all the exciting news right now is around electronic books, maybe we don’t need a paperback that will last longer and be better, maybe we need an e-reader that can be dropped from a diving board or withstand a monsoon. After all, paperback sales are down across the board, and it’s not because books aren’t waterproof; it’s because a lot of the kind of readers who buy paperbacks are now buying books electronically and popping them onto readers. So maybe a special polymer coating for your iPhone? Or a waterproof cocoon for your Kindle or Kobo? Something, anyway, that will lift current in-demand technology beyond the place where it now hovers.