You may have noticed that the spines of your No Starch Press books, even the ones you use most, stay free of creases. That’s because we pay extra to have our books bound with premium lay-flat bindings. Most No Starch books (with the exception of hard backs, some older books, and a very few print-on-demand titles) sport this nice little Easter egg.

Lay-flat bindings allow our books to lay open by themselves on a flat surface, making it easy to refer to them while working at a computer. As an added bonus, they keep the spines from developing cracks and creases with frequent use.

Here’s a somewhat technical explanation from our printer about how these special spines are manufactured.

Once a book has been printed and the printed signatures collected, the collated signatures enter our binder and are milled on the spine to prepare them for glue. There is a two-step glue process using PUR (polyurethane reactive) glue, the absolute strongest and most flexible book adhesive made, and EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) glue to adhere the covers. The milled signatures go across the PUR glue pot where glue is applied with two rollers:

A reverse spinner roller then removes the excess glue:

The book then travels between two side glue rollers that apply a bead of EVA glue to the first and last page of the book. EVA glue must be used in this step because is adheres immediately to hold the book together whereas PUR glue must cure for eight hours before it reaches its maximum strength.

The next station is the krash station where the krash paper is applied to the spine of the book to cover the PUR glue film. This creates the gap between the book block and cover that is critical to provide the flexibility and lay-flat properties of this binding style. Finally, a cover is applied which is adhered to the book with the side glue at the front and back corners of the spine.

The books are then inspected for quality issues and shipped off to our distributor, bookstores and of course, to you.

It’s January of 1995. Boyz II Men have the #1 hit song, Braveheart is in theaters, and Dr. Martens are à la mode. No Starch Press has just published its very first book of all time, The Book of SCSI: A Guide for Adventurers. The guide was a meticulously researched comprehensive SCSI resource that featured no-BS explanations for beginners in plain English as well as deep dives into the technology by experts. While decades out of date, this book set the tone of No Starch books to come with its conversational approach, attention to detail, careful fact checking, and fun aesthetic. Its table of contents included:

• An intro to the basics of SCSI
• Instructions on how to add SCSI to your PC
• An explanation of how the SCSI bus works
• Overviews of ASPI programming and CAM programming
• Q&A from major SCSI host adapter manufactures Adaptec, DPT, and Future Domain
• A directory of 150+ companies that produce SCSI hardware and software
• A look at SCSI into the future by John Lohmeyer, chairman of the ANSI SCSI-3 Committee and world’s leading SCSI expert
• Drawings and diagrams of SCSI hardware and systems
• Tips and troubleshooting help
• A glossary of terms
• A comprehensive index

Neither the original, nor its 2nd edition, released in the summer of 2000, are still in print, but both were well-regarded at the time (the original release was even reviewed by PC magazine).

Cheers to the OG No Starch fans who threw on a flannel and headed to the Computers section of their local Waldenbooks to pick up a copy.