--- title: Controversial Act of Cutting Books in Half Divides Twitter description: An intrepid reader faced the ire of the Internet after confessing he cuts his long books in half to make them more portable. canonical: https://time.com/5769068/cutting-books-in-half-controversy/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-01-21T20:33:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:13.922Z og:title: Unhinged Way to Make Books 'More Portable' Has Sliced the Internet in Half og:description: "Book murderer" og:url: https://time.com/5769068/cutting-books-in-half-controversy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte53e1359fba77702/698a091d97cdff231e6ba35b/cutting-books-in-half-controversy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Conceptual Books og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Unhinged Way to Make Books 'More Portable' Has Sliced the Internet in Half twitter:description: "Book murderer" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte53e1359fba77702/698a091d97cdff231e6ba35b/cutting-books-in-half-controversy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Unhinged Way to Make Books 'More Portable' Has Sliced the Internet in Half > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5012637e-a2b5-4db6-967d-6f02549a45fe&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 21, 2020 8:33 PM UTC  over sized book open on desk over sized book open on desk Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 21, 2020 8:33 PM UTC [Long reads](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2019/) can be daunting — who among us hasn’t felt slightly intimidated by picking up a copy of [_War and Peace_](https://time.com/4180279/review-war-and-peace-adaptation/)_,_ while weighing whether or not the satisfaction of delving into the book is worth toting a hefty novel on our [morning commute](https://time.com/3700921/apps-commute/)? That’s the dilemma that was faced by a resourceful, if scrappy reader, who decided to take matters into his own hands by cutting their long reads in half, a convenient if very controversial method that makes books portable and apparently, is dividing the Internet! Intrepid reader Alex Christofi took to Twitter on Tuesday to share how he makes books “more portable,” also divulging that his practice of splitting books in half has earned him the abject disgust of a colleague, who proclaimed him a “book murderer” — a rather dramatic claim, but one that’s not unwarranted for any book lover, when you consider that Christofi is intentionally dismembering literature with gusto. > [](https://twitter.com/alex%5Fchristofi/status/1219564301029138432) As might be expected, the Internet had plenty of opinions on the topic, with many proclaiming from the online halls of justice that Christofi was committing unspeakable harm by slicing his books in this manner. > [](https://twitter.com/LibyaLiberty/status/1219572880599470081) > [](https://twitter.com/grr%5Faargh/status/1219564403286323200) > [](https://twitter.com/harriet1marsden/status/1219570361857081344) However, others were more forgiving of Christofi’s decision to cut his books, pointing out ultimately that the important thing was that he was reading. > [](https://twitter.com/rhiannonlucyc/status/1219566290207154177) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5769068/cutting-books-in-half-controversy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5769068/cutting-books-in-half-controversy/"},"headline":"Unhinged Way to Make Books 'More Portable' Has Sliced the Internet in Half","datePublished":"2020-01-21T20:33:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:13.922Z","description":"\"Book murderer\"","url":"https://time.com/5769068/cutting-books-in-half-controversy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte53e1359fba77702/698a091d97cdff231e6ba35b/cutting-books-in-half-controversy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte53e1359fba77702/698a091d97cdff231e6ba35b/cutting-books-in-half-controversy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Conceptual Books","caption":"Conceptual Books","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5769068/cutting-books-in-half-controversy/","name":"Unhinged Way to Make Books 'More Portable' Has Sliced the Internet in Half"}}]}] ```