It's safe to pick mushrooms, but not to read Pynchon

I've been picking mushrooms since I was a child and here I am, almost intact.

Some other activities are more dangerous, such as reading Pynchon. His books are so heavy you can only read them sitting at a table. Any attempt to read in bed or armchair used to cause severe wrist damage and general annoyance - until I solved the problem. Here is how:

Tear 64 page portions out of the book. After the first page, open the two-page spread and place a hair pin on top of both, i.e., a gadget that looks like two 3" combs connected by a strong spring, to keep it open. Now instead of about 5 pounds of sliding pages and sharp edged hard cover, resisting all attempts at quiet reading, you have a physical equivalent of the New Yorker magazine. I keep my Pynchons in good order, each 64 page set described briefly in a computer file, so I can easily go back to any chapter I feel like rereading. Another option would be two buy a second copy and keep it pristine, but why bother?

I submit it to y'all: What's the use of a book that causes as much damage as any attempt at home improvement?

Along similar lines, after giving up my subscription to the Wired magazine because of its heft, I bought a current copy to read just one article and I had a satori: Do the same thing as with the Pynchons, tear the pages with ads and leave only the reading matter. I re-subscribed and improved the method: Tear out only the few pages you actually want to read, throw out the ad pages (most of the magazine) and everything that is printed in font smaller than 10 pts or with light color font against dark background (much of probably interesting but inaccessible stuff). What is left is usually worth reading and possible to read, some ten or fifteen pages in each issue, and it's even cheaper than Pynchon at $1 per copy in subscription.

Why o why can the New Yorker, Harper's, Atlantic, NYBR be readable as is, direct from mailbox, and Wired can't?

Read safely or pick mushrooms.