Book

A dictionary is a book.

A book is now a set of printed sheets of paper held together between two covers. The sheets of paper in a book are called pages. The pages have words written in them and maybe illustrations drawn. The first books were not printed, but written by hand in ink.

The book is a more flexible format than the earlier idea of the scroll. The change from scrolls to books began in the Roman Empire and took many centuries to become complete.

A writer of a book is often called an author. Someone who draws the pictures in a book is called an illustrator. Books can have more than one writer or illustrator.

A book can be a text that is a part of a larger collection of texts. A section of a text may be published as a book so that it only has one writer or only focuses on one subject area. Books written in this way can be understood without reading whole collection of writings. Examples are the Iliad, Odyssey, Bible, Quran and Torah. Encyclopedias often have separate articles written by different people, and are published as separate volumes. Each volume is a book.

Hardcover books have hard covers made of cardboard that is covered in cloth or leather and sewn together. Paperback books have covers made of stiff paper that is glued together. A small book is a "booklet" and may be stapled together. The words in books can be read aloud and recorded. These are called "audiobooks".

Books may be borrowed from a library or bought from a bookstore. People can make their own books and write in them, and add family photos and drawings. Some books are empty inside, like a diary, an address book, or photo album. These books are meant to be written in. Usually, the word "book" means that the pages inside have words, and often pictures.

Some books are written just for children, some are for entertainment, and some are textbooks for studying something in school, such as math or history.

Etymology

It is thought that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood. The Latin word codex, means a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves). It originally meant 'block of wood'.

Content of books

There are two main kinds of book text: fiction and non-fiction.

Fiction

See the main article: Fiction

These books are novels and short stories. They are stories that have not happened. They are often imagined by the writer. Many books are based on real events from history,but the writer creates imaginary characters or dialogue for the events.

Non-fiction

See the main article: Non-fiction

Non-fiction fiction are about true facts or things that have really happened. Some examples are dictionaries, cookbooks, textbooks for learning in school, or a biography (someone's life story).

Historical

A Torah is a kind of scroll still used today.

Between the written manuscript and the book are several inventions. While manuscripts are hand-made, books are now industrial products.

Manuscripts

A common type of manuscript was the scroll. It is a long sheet that is rolled up. The sheet could have been made of papyrus (made by the Egyptians, by weaving the inner stems of the papyrus plant and then hammering them together), or parchment or vellum (very thin animal skin, first used by the ancient Greeks), or paper (made from plant fibers, invented by the Chinese). Manuscripts of this kind lasted to the 16th century and beyond. Turning the manuscript into a book required several developments.

Other systems

In Roman Britain we have examples of a message system which was widespread. It was wax on boards, reusable. Waxed boards could be scratched with messages such as (from one woman to another) "Dear, please come to my birthday party, it won't be the same without you". Many examples have been found near Roman encampments on the border with Scotland.

The codex

The Romans were the first people to put separate pieces of manuscript between covers, to form a codex. This was more convenient to handle and store than scrolls, but was not yet a book as we understand it.

Printing

Scrolls and codices were written and copied by hand. The Chinese invented woodblock printing, where shapes are carved out of a block of wood, then ink is applied to the carved side, and the block is pressed onto paper. This woodcut method was slow because the symbols and pictures were made by cutting away the surrounding wood.

Johannes Gutenberg was the first person to invent a machine for printing, called the printing press. He made it in the 15th century. This involved more than just a press because it involved the production of a movable metal type that was suitable for the machine process.

Initially, the machines were slow, and needed a muscle power to work. The Industrial Revolution brought steam power, and later electrification.

Paper and ink

Paper had been invented in China in the 8th century, but it was kept secret for a long time. In Europe hand-made paper was available from about 1450. It was cheaper than parchment but still expensive, and the early printing was a slow process. Therefore, books remained rare. In 1800 the first machines for making paper from wood pulp were invented. New kinds of inks were also invented for various purposes, and machines were driven by steam engines and later by electricity.

The common cheap supply of paper fed the faster printing machines, and books became cheaper. At the same time, in America, Britain and continental Europe, more people learnt to read. So, in the 19th century, many ordinary people could afford to buy books and could actually read them. Also in the 19th century came public libraries, so poorer people could get access to the best books.

Binding

Printing was done on large sheets of paper, which were then folded, guillotined (cut) and sewn into the covers. Bookbinding and all the other processes have been done by machines since the 19th century.

Now

Today, some of the technologies have been changed, especially those involving illustration and typography. However, books look much the same as they did, with more illustration in color, but basically the same. That is because experience has shown that readers need certain things for pleasurable reading. Graphic design and typography are the practical arts used to make books attractive and useful to readers.

Related pages

• Author
• Bibliography
• Library
• Literature
• Notebook
• Page
• Reading

Other websites

• WikiHow article on How to read a Book
• Google Book Search (Beta)
• Bestseller list of all times Archived 2011-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Book -Citizendium