Only seems to gets worse when they get older, too. The books just scale with them. Maybe not so bad if you're going back and forth to your locker (is it lighter in countries without lockers?), but I used to have to hoof it to the library in college so I could bum the wifi.

It sucked. If I had to gauge it, that was 25-30lbs of textbook for about 3.5 miles of scorching heat. I also have a very known vice of looking absolutely anywhere except straight ahead of me when I'm out and about.

While I was half-turned, admiring this swallowtail butterfly a family had painted on their mailbox, my foot caught a crack in the sidewalk. Went down, my backpack fell on top of me.

I fractured a rib.