Science fictional alternatives to books.

Hallo all, again I'm interested in picking the collective forum brain for some ideas.

I working on a description of the Great Library of Celaeno from the Cthulhu Mythos for a more science-fictional setting. The concept is a huge library (vastly larger on the inside) on a planet in a pocket universe, created by a long departed Precursor race as a storehouse of knowledge.



What I'm looking for is ideas on how that knowledge is stored; I want to avoid the two extremes of "scrolls made from human skin" and everything on computer so I wonder if anyone has suggestions for other storage media?



I'm trying to keep the "endless shelves stuff with books" but replace the traditional books with different media.



So far I've come up with:

• Telepathic crystals; touch to experience the content. May cause brain damage is used by the wrong species.


• Discs that play back audio when a finger or stylus is applied


• Interactive holographs


• Mechanical book composed of rotating, interlocking metal shapes; 'read' by manipulating the shapes in the appropriate order


• Slate computers


• injectable nanotech or RNA


• Optical media like microfilm, microfiche,


• Electronic scrolls; a roll of light absorbing plastic that acts an a flexible screen


• Ultra-thin paper book, 10cm x 5cm with automatic page turning an magnification


• Books, but etched on thin metallic plates or other such material


• Digital storage media, ranging from magnetic, optical and physical discs to crystals and similar; all requiring their own readers


• Organics; specially created animals trained to recite material or even interact with the user

Any suggestions?

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1qwo6Nv