People will spout about impermanence of digital records, but books are really fragile, too. Alexis Arnold from San Francisco wanted to illustrate that with her project The Crystallized Book: collecting books and growing Borax crystals on them. Books range from literature classics to magazines, and there’s even a mysterious and arcane tome called “Linux: The Complete Manual”.

American media personality Kim Kardashian seen on February 17, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images)

The sculpture “It Takes Two to Tango” by Scottish sculptor David Mach is seen in front of the headquarters of the CMA-CGM shipping company office tower in the port of Marseille, France, March 15, 2016. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

Jazmin, 6, sister of Jose Luis, receives Isoniazid Preventive Therapy in Carabayllo in Lima, Peru July 14, 2016. At least 30,000 Peruvians are infected with tuberculosis, an ancient disease that killed 1.8 million globally last year, more than AIDS-related and malaria deaths combined. Partners in Health, a Boston-based non-profit that works with Peru's health ministry, offers a simple solution. It trains community volunteers to tend to tuberculosis sufferers in their homes – ensuring patients take medicine daily and helping them navigate the public health bureaucracy. (Photo by Mariana Bazo/Reuters)

Austrian Bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has some fun at a party on a yacht in Marina Del Rey in September 1979 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Alfred Yetta (L) and Kay Manning pose for a photo in front of a cardboard cut-out of Pope Francis, during an event organised by Christa Scalies, the co-creator of the Pop-Up Pope, in Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 16, 2015. (Photo by Mark Makela/Reuters)

Sparks are thrown as an employee grinds the edges of a ski at the plant of Swiss ski manufacturer Stoeckli in Malters, Switzerland November 25, 2015. Stoeckli plans to produce some 1,000 pair of skis per year of a special edition for Swiss watch manufacturer TAG Heuer, a brand of LVMH Group. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

British model Leomie Anderson and British television presenter AJ Odudu pose as they arrive for the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London, Britain on February 11, 2023. (Photo by Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters)