Holy Ba-Jezus!

As seen on Book Ninja, this thing really does freak me out! If such a freak of nature does in fact exist, I ask, where are the pictures? I need a visual of this baby! I can't stop imagining a shiny stainless steel machine sprouting out liquid pages that quickly harden into the paper that we know and love. If anyone lives in Washington D.C. or happens to be in the area, stop by the World Bank bookstore for me and get me a picture!

Imagine if there were a magic machine that could print entire books in mere minutes. You could go to a bookstore or coffee shop, choose a book online from millions of digital titles and then—poof!—out would come a fully bound book. You could get rare and out-of-print titles, in any language, and for less because the inventory isn’t stored on site.

That machine exists—it’s called the Espresso Book Machine—and it’s currently being tested at the World Bank bookstore in Washington, D.C. (The New York Public Library and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in Egypt, are each getting one in the fall.) Former Random House editorial director Jason Epstein, a legend in the industry, and former Dean & DeLuca CEO Dane Neller are backing the venture. “We’re on the verge of something really powerful here,” says Epstein.