Think Wikipedia is the shiznitz? Build yourself a study filled with the human-edited encyclopedia’s wisdom through PediaPress, a service that lets you pick out choice Wikipedia entries for publishing into a softcover book.
Of course, someone already made a Wikipedia book before. But that was magnificently unusable. Operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, the new service lets you pick and sort your own content, essentially commissioning you as an editor for your own custom volume of niche knowledge.
PediaPress offers both pre-edited books and custom ones whose contents you pick out on your own. Pre-selected books include a 298-page volume about different NBA awards, 152 pages of information about pro-wrestling brothers, the Hardy Boyz, and all sorts of random mess you probably can’t find in a regular bookstore. To design your own, simple enable Book Creator on Wikipedia, which is a bar that will appear on every page you open. Just click the “Add this page to your book” link and you’re done. Once you’ve selected all the content you want, you can go to the Manage A Book page, which lets you sort the entries, as well as divide them into chapters. After that, you’ll be taken to the PediaPress site where you can then design the cover and make the purchase.
Want a collection of Wikipedia entries about rockabilly bands from the 50s to the present? Wade through the site, pick pages out for inclusion and you’re ready to go. How about a dual-topic book about beauty queens turned pornstars and killer clowns? Just as easy. You can, literally, come up with anything. If there are Wikipedia entries for it, you can get it typeset, printed and bound for your library shelf.
All PediaPress books measure 8.5 x 5.5 inches, with a color cover, and black and white inner pages. Pricing starts at $8.90 for a 100-page book, but final cost will depend on the resulting length. Check out the video below to see the process in action.