The Books Portal
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images. Books are typically composed of many pages, bound together and protected by a cover. Modern bound books were preceded by many other written mediums, such as the codex and the scroll. The book publishing process is the series of steps involved in their creation and dissemination.
As a conceptual object, a book typically refers to a written work of substantial length, which may be distributed either physically or in digital forms like ebooks. These works are broadly classified into fiction (containing imaginary content) and non-fiction (containing content representing truths). Many smaller categories exist within these, such as children's literature meant to match the reading level and interests of children, or reference works that gather collections of non-fiction. Books are traded at both regular stores and specialized bookstores, and people can borrow them from libraries. The reception of books has led to a number of social consequences, including censorship.
A physical book does not need to contain written works: for example, it may contain only drawings, engravings, photographs, puzzles, or removable content like paper dolls. Physical books may be left empty to be used for writing or drawing, such as account books, appointment books, autograph books, notebooks, diaries and sketchbooks.
The contemporary book industry has seen several major changes due to new technologies. In some markets, the sale of printed books has decreased due to the increased use of eBooks. However, printed books still largely outsell eBooks, and many people have a preference for print. The 21st century has also seen a rapid rise in the popularity of audiobooks, which are recordings of books being read aloud. Additionally, awareness of the needs of people who can't access print media due to limitations like visual impairment has led to a rise in formats designed for greater accessibility, such as braille printing or formats supporting text-to-voice. Google Books estimated that as of 2010, approximately 130,000,000 unique books had been published. (Full article...)
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More Did you know (auto generated)
- ... that Shaparak Khorsandi asked for her book to be removed from the Jhalak Prize longlist, which she considered to be "a sticker for being brown"?
- ... that Steve Englehart wrote the Captain America comic book storyline "Secret Empire" as an allegory for the Watergate scandal?
- ... that according to one legal scholar, "no intelligent lawyer could well practice without" the books of Joseph Kinnicutt Angell?
- ... that circulation numbers for early comic books featuring Captain America remained close to a million copies per month, outstripping news magazines such as Time?
- ... that Olive MacLeod journeyed 6,000 km (3,700 mi) through Africa in 1910–1911 to visit her murdered fiancé's grave, and wrote a book based on her observations?
- ... that Andrew Barclay, a bookbinder in colonial Boston, was commanded by British general Sir Guy Carleton to take Loyalist refugees to Nova Scotia?
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“ | The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books. |
” |
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Did you know
- ...that Library of Alexandria was once the largest library in the world?(Pictured)
- ...that the government of Bavaria, in agreement with the federal government of Germany, does not allow any copying or printing of Mein Kampf in Germany?
- ...that among the books that end up in the Simpson's fireplace in episode Dog of Death are The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (which ironically enough, is about a society where books are burned),and Fatherhood by Bill Cosby?
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Web resources
- Bookbinding and the Conservation of books, A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, 1982 by Matt T. Roberts and Don Etherington
- IOBA glossary of book terms
- Project Gutenberg - Free e-Books
- Words at Large: The best in books from CBC.ca
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