>>>>>>Wouldn't the bug be dead if he started between the cover and the first page?
>>>>>
>>>>>Well, this would make it difficult for the bug. As with many other problems, you are supposed to ignore this "slight practical difficulty"...
>>>>
>>>>Yeah, I thought as much.
>>>>
>>>>Dots are pages and line are covers:
>>>>
>>>>

>>>>...||...||...
>>>>

>>>>
>>>>3 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 13, but that seems to easy. Why would someone believe the answer was 7? I must be missing something...
>>>>
>>>>Renoir
>>>
>>>Ohhhhh! On a bookshelf the books are reversed! To my credit, and this is really reaching for some fragment of credibility, I didn't need to actually look at real books, but I did imagine them in a real situation... Doh!
>>>
>>>I am greatly humbled... :-)
>>>
>>>Renoir
>>
>>No they are NOT reversed - go & look at a real set of encyclopaedias, Page 1 of Vol.1 will be closest to the last page of Vol2. At least my sets normally start with Vol1 to the left.
>
>Well, I didn't state it clearly, but that is what I meant. I understand why 7 is the correct answer. Perhaps if we are that concerned with the exactness of my humble concession, then the "dead insect" theory is looking like a better response than 7. :-)
>
>Renoir

Sorry, re-reading your answer, I can see what you meant - I misread/understood the last section to imply the reverse order on the shelf.

I have found living insects inside closed books though, just depends on their size, guess they'd take much longer to eat through the books though