IB Books

It's summer vacation. I should be relaxing and not thinking at all about colleges, high school, IB, or tests. Instead, I take the SAT tomorrow. I'm also sitting at the computer answering two pages of Biology questions thanks to summer homework.

Surprisingly, though, I could have maintained a cheerful attitude through it all. Heck, nobody joins IB unless they have a larger-than-is-probably-healthy masochistic streak. I'm used to it. In fact, I'm grateful for this summer homework. Really! But what finally got to me, is this:

IB makes books.

That don't open.

Alright, to be fair, the book isn't directly out of Switzerland IB HQ. But it is "for use with the IB". And it's an okay book, too. The diagrams are easy to draw and it's paperback and easy to carry around. (See how optimistic and forgiving I can be?)

But the thing is, the book doesn't stay open long enough for you to actually learn anything. It's got a one-inch spine that's even more unbreakable than my spirit. All year, in Bio class, whenever we had to draw a diagram or answer some questions, you could look around and see kids with their elbows at awkward angles, trying desperately to hold their books open while completely destroying their ability to draw, write, or feel their fingers. I use my other Bio book, which is hardback and weighs more than all 5 members combined (though that's not saying much) to hold the book "flat". Here's my technique:

1.) Find a space big enough to accomodate two textbooks and whatever worksheet you have. (This eliminates both of my desks and the area in front of my computer)

2.) Open the little blue book (remember to stretch first) and find the page you're looking for. Beware: the index is done by chapters, so this might take a while.

3.) Lay the blue book open at the correct page. When it snaps itself shut, repeat step 2.

4.) Place the red book on top of the blue book, at least two inches down from the top. (If you need to look at something close to the top of the page... good luck.)

5.) Tilt your head parallel to the floor if you need to read anything on the bottom half of the page, as it is curved due to the book's valiant efforts to close itself. (Pretend you're reading one of those code things on the back of cereal boxes - it's fun!)

6.) Repeat steps 2-5 if you need to turn the page.

But, seriously. I know we're IB, and we're smart and everything, but that really doesn't mean we don't need books that open. You can give us summer homework, and you can give us two incomprehensible textbooks, and we'll be fine... but please don't add insult to injury by requiring us to be both engineers and contortionists in order to read the textbooks.

Oh, and you're not fooling anyone making the history textbooks look like novels. They're still not interesting, and now there aren't even any pictures.