This is a complete reimagining of the Open Book Project, but the original mission remains:
As a society, we need an open source device for reading. Books are among the most important documents of our culture, yet the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading are closed objects, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners’ interests are not always aligned with readers’.
The Open Book aims to be a simple device that anyone can build for themselves. The Open Book should be comprehensible: the reader should be able to look at it and understand, at least in broad strokes, how it works. It should be extensible, so that a reader with different needs can write code and add accessories that make the book work for them. It should be global, supporting readers of books in all the languages of the world. Most of all, it should be open, so that anyone can take this design as a starting point and use it to build a better book.
Check out the promo video as well:
https://youtu.be/vFD9V8Hh7Yg
As someone who has tried soldering with the wrong equipment (and thoroughly stuffed it up), it’s both. Learning with the right equipment however is a lot easier than with the wrong stuff.
And 3D printing externally can also be a bit of a trial and error process if you’re new to the whole thing.
In terms of 3D printing it depends a lot on the quality of the model (which usually is pretty good in projects like this, unlike some thingiverse models) and the quality of the printing service. A reputable service will basically always produce good results,only the hole in the wall private garage services are sometimes problematic from my experience.
With soldering you are absolutely correct, it is far easier to learn with more expensive equipment (but this is still far cheaper than 3D printing, decent soldering stations go for less than 120 bucks these days), but it’s still comparably cheap - but not easy to master. Takes a lot of time.