Believe it or not, there are people who don’t own a Kindle or an iPad and can’t just order up a book when they get the sudden, overwhelming urge to read a book. So what’s a voracious reader to do if they find themselves without reading material and no bookstore in sight? Well, at the University of Hamburg, book lovers can head for a vending machine.

German publisher Hamburger Automatenverlag is taking old cigarette vending machines and retooling them to sell books, graphic novels, travel guides and collections of poetry instead, all by local Hamburg authors. Knowledge instead of nicotine? Not a bad idea and way better for your lungs.

Just the other day we learned about a machine dispensing gold bars, and now this. Next I’d like to see the following items sold in vending machines: jeans that fit perfectly, umbrellas, engagement rings and greeting cards. Those probably exist already anyway. What else would you want to see in a vending machine or, what other odd things have you seen offered in one?

Books Are Cooler Than Cigaretts, and This Vending Machine Knows It [Boersenblatt.net via Gizmodo]

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