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Evolution of Books

by: padrone delibri

A Book is anything that is in written, printed, or blank
pages format fastened along one side and encased
between protective covers. In other words, a book is a
collection of leaves of paper or other material, bound
together along one edge within covers. A book is also a
literary work or a main division of such a work. A book
produced in electronic format is known as an e-book.

In the words of Cicero, "A room without books is like a
body without a soul". Books and mankind have been
tied together for centuries. Books are not made for
furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully
furnishes a house.

Books are on the second rung of evolution of
communication - first being oral communication. Early
era books weren't in printed form, but were 'inscribed'.
Use of Papyrus was the next technological
advancement in this area. Egyptian and Greek ancient
histories find frequent mention of usage of Papyrus for
books. These books, particularly Greek ones, were very
large sized books, measuring 30 feet length and one
foot width. Over a period of time book writing shifted to
parchments during the middle age.

China is credited with printing of books with the help of
blocks (even today this technique is deployed).
Europeans, in particular Italians and French developed
this book printing into a huge book printing industry.
Some archeologists and historians attribute this to their
love for art. Britain came to the fore with
industrialization. Manual process of printing the books
were replaced with printing machines. Today book
printing technology is extremely different from the
techniques deployed during 20th century. Computers
have made it very easy, flexible and interesting to
printing of books. Modern day book printing technology
heavily depends on computers whether it is the design,
concept, cover or for that matter the final stage of
printing. It has possible because of computerized
technology that book printing span has reduced, quality
has improved and huge quantities are a matter of few
hours.
Latest to be added to books is the concept of e-books.
E-books are the electronic form of books. These books,
while being made available on traditional paper, are
also available in soft format.

Some of the interesting facts about books are been laid
here. The world's biggest book (3,604 pages weighing
12 kilo) has been written about Croatian president
Franjo Tudjman by Croatian author Hrvoje Sosic.
Guinness World Records has confirmed that Mark
Palkovic is the owner of the smallest book (0.9
millimeters by 0.9 millimeters, 30 pages) titled
Chekhov's Chameleon. According to one claim, the
oldest book can be viewed at Bulgaria's National
History Museum in Sofia. This book is claimed to be
belonging to year 600BC.

No write up on books is complete without the mention
of Amazon and Barnes & Noble. While Amazon carries
over four million titles over its counter, Barnes & Noble
boasts of a wide chain of 842 retailers using its trade
name. Amazon, in particular has been very successful
and had a rapid growth in its business since its
inception.

About the author:
padrone delibri is the owner of
Fax Books
which is a premier resource for books information.
for more information, go to

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