To give you a sense: the first edition of Ptolus is a shelf-dominating monster book. It's 668 pages.Hmm.
/Wanders over to the bookshelf to find the monstrous 4th edition Talislanta rules. Checks page count. 500 pages. Surprised it was thinner than I remembered. Though I guess each of these books will be of similar size (depending on paper quality and thickness).
/Checks college physics textbook. 1100+ pages. OK, there's the size and weight. And yeah, that's a bit... excessive.
"Shut up and take my money!"