How many of those graded books have you actually cracked open to read?

Oh man, I feel this in my soul. I once tried to rebind a paperback with glue I found in my dad's garage and it fell apart before I even finished the next day, so at least you got two whole days out of yours. Honestly though, hardware store PVA is usually meant for wood, not paper, and the stuff that works for bookbinding has more give to it so it doesn't go brittle and crack. I'd say blame the glue on this one, not your pressing. Maybe it's just me but cheap glue is one of those things where you pay twice, once at the store and once when you redo the whole book.

Saw a thread on reddit where someone ran all their cords through those cheap plastic cable sleeves you can get on amazon. Keeps the cat from getting a good grip on any single wire, and the sleeve is too thick for teeth to do much damage. Cost like ten bucks and took five minutes to set up.