Abook is awritten work of substantial length created by one or moreauthors. They can be distributed in various forms such as printed books,audiobooks, and electronic books (ebooks). Books are broadlyclassified intofiction, containing inventednarrative or other imaginary content; andnon-fiction, containing content intended as factual truth.
The term may also refer to the physical or electronic object containing such a work. Modern books are typicallyprinted in acodex format, composed of many pagesbound together and protected by acover. Before the wide adoption of the modernprinting press, codices were used to create handwrittenmanuscripts. Older writing media includescrolls andclay tablets.
The bookpublishing process is the series of steps involved in its creation and dissemination, often undertaken in modern times by a commercial publishing company. The publishing industry has recently seen major changes due to new technologies, including ebooks and audiobooks (recordings of books read aloud). Awareness of the needs of people withprint disabilities has led to a rise inaccessible publishing formats such asbraille printing andlarge-print editions.Google Books estimated in 2010 that roughly 130 million total unique books have been published.
Reader holding a small French literary booklet in a public space
The wordbook comes from theOld Englishbōc, which is similar toOld Norsebók andOld Saxonbōk. These may all come from hypothesizedGermanic*bōks, thought to mean "beech".[1] InSlavic languages likeRussian,Bulgarian,Macedonianбукваbukva—"letter" is cognate with "beech". InRussian,Serbian andMacedonian, the wordбукварь (bukvar') orбуквар (bukvar) refers to a primary school textbook that helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus conjectured that the earliestIndo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood.[2] The Latin wordcodex, describing the format used by a modern book, bound and with separate leaves, originally meant "block of wood".[3]
Definitions
A book is traditionally composed of many pages bound together along one edge and protected by a cover, but technological advances have expanded the meaning of the term substantially over time with the evolution of communication media.[4] Professor of book history and publishing studies Zoran Velagić wrote that "consensus does not exist 'even at the level of a basic definition'" for the book.[5]
One definition was given byUNESCO in 1964 for recording national statistics on book production: a book is "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages, exclusive of the cover pages, published in the country and made available to the public". This distinguished books from other written material such aspamphlets.[6][7] Kovačet al. critiqued the UNESCO definition for not accounting for new formats. They proposed four criteria (length, textual content, a defined form, and "information architecture [such as] linear structure and key textual elements") that different types of books meet to different degrees. In their "hierarchy of the book", formats that fulfill more criteria are more similar to the traditional printed book.[5][8]
Historian of books,James Raven, has suggested that when studying how books have been used to communicate, they should be defined in a broadly inclusive way as "portable, durable, replicable and legible" means of recording and disseminating information, rather than relying on physical or contextual features. This would include, for example, ebooks,newspapers, andquipus (a form of knot-based recording historically used by cultures inAndeanSouth America), but not objects fixed in place such as inscribed monuments.[9][10]
Jiahu symbols written on tortoise shells, such as the eye symbol in the bottom-right, are regarded as a form of proto-writing[11]
The modern book is the product of a long history of gradual development punctuated by several major disruptive innovations. LibrarianFred Kilgour identified the most significant technological changes to the book as: clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, the codex, printing, steam power, offset printing, and electronic books.[12] Many cultures have independently developedpictographic symbols that represent physical things, concepts, and words but lack the capacity to transcribe a spoken language. These systems, often calledproto-writing, typically have a more narrow or specialized function than a full writing system.[13][14]
In at least three cases, proto-writing has been independently developed into writing systems that can be used to transcribe spoken language: Sumeriancuneiform inMesopotamia,written Chinese, and theMaya script in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.[15] For example, the small number ofJiahu symbols found inscribed onto bones and tortoise shells in 8,600-year-old Chinese graves are believed by archaeologists to be precursors to the Chinese writing system that only fully emerged thousands of years later.[16][17] Various forms of pictographs, described by art historian Elizabeth Boone Hill as "non-writing and beyond writing", developed alongside linguistic writing and continue to be used in modern texts includingmaps,diagrams,logical notation,mathematical notation,musical notation, andchemistry's structural formulas.[18] Some of the oldest surviving written records were made on tablets.[19]
The earliest surviving texts widely accepted as writing arecuneiform tablets. They emerged from earlier traditions of sealed clay envelopes calledbullae, which contained physical tokens, and logographicproto-cuneiform written to represent the physical tokens. Created beginning circa 3200 BC during theUruk period in modern-day Iraq, the tablets were made from flattened pieces of clay that scribes impressed with astylus.[20] Theclay tablets were used in theAncient Near East for thousands of years throughout theBronze Age and well into theIron Age.[21] Clay tablets are very durable compared to other early writing materials and many survive to the present day.[20] Stored in libraries and private residences, they were used in many of the ways that modern writing is used, including to record literature.[22] The Standard Babylonian version of theEpic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving work of poetry, was written on a series of about 12 tablets each with over 300 lines of cuneiformverse.[23] Depending on the definition of 'book', the tablets are considered either a very early form of the book or a precursor to true books.[24]
InAncient Egypt, a formal writing system known ashieroglyphs developed in parallel to Mesopotamian cuneiform.[25] Ancient Egyptian scribes wrote hieroglyphic texts onpapyrus rolled into scrolls, with the oldest surviving (unused) roll of papyrus found preserved in the 2900 BC tomb ofHemaka.[26] The scribes wrote in contrasting black and red ink, with the red used to contrast elements like titles, section heading, and authorship. This practice, calledrubrication, was used for millennia in manuscript book production.[27][a] Early scroll books, likeThe Maxims of Ptahhotep written circa 2400 BC, were philosophical books in the Egyptiansebayt or "teaching" genre.[29]
Hebrew, Greek, and Roman scribes adopted the format, often with a central handle around which the papyrus was rolled. Parchment was not frequently used in scrolls as it increased a manuscript's weight.[27] The codex dominated in the Roman world byLate Antiquity,[30] but scrolls persisted into the earlier era of printed books in Asia.[31]
The codex is the ancestor of the modern book. It introduced the format where sheets of uniform size werebound along one edge, and typically held between two covers made of some more robust material. Unlike modern books, the early codices were hand-written manuscripts, and the pages were not made from paper, but typicallyparchment orvellum, derived from animal hides.[32] The first written mention of the codex as a form of book is fromMartial, in hisApophoretaCLXXXIV at the end of the first century, where he praises its compactness.[33] The codex format was possibly developed from the Roman custom of bindingwax tablets (wooden boards containing wax for writing temporary notes with a stylus) together.[34][35]
The codex format gradually displaced the scroll. The vast majority of surviving Christian texts from before the 5th century AD (158 of 172 documents as of 2002) are codices. Paganauthors were slower to transition, but nearly all Greek texts were being composed as codices rather than scrolls by the end of the 4th century AD.[36] InIslam, many of theearliest manuscript copies of theQuran were composed as codices.[37] Jewish authors were slower to adopt the new format—the oldest surviving Jewish codices date to the 10th century AD—resulting in the scroll becoming a visual shorthand for Jewish culture.[36] To the present day,Torah scrolls are still read aloud in synagogues duringJewish prayers.[38]
Scribes independently developed a similar codex format inpre-Columbian Mesoamerica.[39] They wrote manuscripts onto long folded strips of either fig bark (amatl) or plant fibers and bound them between wooden planks, although only a few have survived. Pictographic writing was widespread, and the Maya developed a phoneticsyllabary.[40] The oldest of the survivingMaya codices dates to the 11th century AD.[41] Most of the pre-ColumbianAztec codices were destroyed by the Spanish,[42] but a few, such as theCodex Borbonicus date to around the time of European arrival.[43]
Manuscripts, handwritten and hand-copied documents, were the dominant form of writing before the invention and widespread adoption of print.[44] Before the invention of theprinting press in the 15th century, each text was a unique handcrafted valuable article, personalized through the design features incorporated by the scribe, owner, bookbinder, and illustrator.[45]
In the earlyWestern Roman Empire,monasteries continuedLatin writing traditions, and the clergy were the predominant readers and copyists. The bookmaking process was long and laborious. The pages had to be prepared, planned, and ruled before ascribe could copy the text, while leaving spaces for illustration andrubrication, before being bound.[46] Manuscript books were expensive and rare. Even at the end of the Middle Ages, the large Paris library of theSorbonne held only around 2,000 volumes.[47] The rise of universities in the 13th century led to an increased demand for books, and a faster system appeared in which unbound leaves, calledpecia, were lent to different copyists.[48]In India, bound manuscripts made of birch bark or palm leaf had existed since antiquity.[49] The text inpalm leaf manuscripts was inscribed with a knife pen on rectangular cut and cured palm leaf sheets; coloring was then applied to the surface and wiped off, leaving the ink in the incised grooves. Each sheet typically had a hole through which a string could pass, and with these the sheets were tied together with a string to bind like a book.
In woodblock printing, arelief image of an entire page is carved into blocks of wood, inked, and used to print copies of that page. It originated in theHan dynasty before 220 AD, used to printtextiles and later paper, and was widely used throughoutEast Asia. The oldest dated book printed by this method isThe Diamond Sutra (868 AD). The method (calledwoodcut when used in art) arrived in Europe in the early 14th century. Books, known asblock-books, were produced by this method, but their creation was a painstaking process, requiring a hand-carved block for each page, which could crack if stored for too long.
Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, printed in Korea, in 1377,Bibliothèque nationale de France
Steam-powered presses further accelerated manufacturing processes and contributed to increased literacy rates.[51] Steam-powered printing presses could print 1,100 sheets per hour and became popular in the early 19th century.[52] Copyright protection also emerged, securing authors' rights and shaping the publishing landscape.[51] Two types of machines were invented tocast molten metal into type blocks from key presses in the late 19th century:Monotype, which cast a single letter similar to movable type, was used heavily in book publishing, andlinotype, which cast an entire "line of type" in one block, was adopted more by newspapers.[53]
The 20th century witnessed the advent of typewriters, computers, anddesktop publishing, transforming document creation and printing.Offset printing largely replaced movable type, and mass market books are still typically printed this way.[54] Offset printing, a form oflithography, allows for faster printing,color printing, and broader range of layouts that can easily include photographs and illustrations. In offset printing, an image is transferred onto a metal plate, which is mounted on a rotating plate cylinder. Water rollers fill the negative space on the plate, ink rollers ink the image, and the ink is offset onto a rubber blanket on another roller that transfers it to the paper. Unlike the olderletterpress printing, the paper does not have to press into the roller and can move through the machine much faster. In 1954, PublisherStaley T. McBrayer invented web offset printing, where paper is fed in as a continuous web of paper that is machine-cut into pages.[55]
Ebooks on a range of devices
Digital advancements in the 21st century led to the rise of ebooks, propelled by the popularity of ereaders and accessibility features. While discussions about the potential decline of physical books have surfaced, print media has proven remarkably resilient, continuing to thrive as a multi-billion-dollar industry.[56] Additionally, efforts to make literature more inclusive emerged, with the development of braille for the visually impaired and the creation of spoken books, providing alternative ways for individuals to access and enjoy literature.[57]
The advent ofelectronic publishing and theinternet means that new information is often published online rather than in printed books, for example through adigital library. "Print on demand" technologies, which make it possible to print as few as one book at a time, have made self-publishing (andvanity publishing) much easier and more affordable, and have allowed publishers to keep low-selling books in print rather than declaring them out of print.
Presently, books are typically produced by a publishing company in order to be put on the market by distributors and bookstores. The publisher negotiates a formal legal agreement withauthors to obtain thecopyright to works, then arranges for them to be produced and sold. The major steps of the publishing process are: editing and proofreading the work to be published; designing the printed book; manufacturing the books; and selling the books, including marketing and promotion. Each of these steps is usually taken on by third-party companies paid by the publisher.[6] This is in contrast toself-publishing, where an author pays for the production and distribution of their own work and manages some or all steps of the publishing process.[58]
Left page (verso if printing is left to right,recto if right to left)
Gutter
Modern books are organized according to a particular format called the book'slayout. Although there is great variation in layout, modern books tend to adhere to a set of rules with regard to what the parts of the layout are and what their content usually includes. A basic layout will include afront cover, aback cover and the book's content which is called itsbody copy orcontent pages. The front cover often bears the book's title (and subtitle, if any) and the name of its author or editor(s). Theinside front cover page is usually left blank in both hardcover and paperback books. The next section, if present, is the book'sfront matter, which includes all textual material after the front cover but not part of the book's content such as a foreword, a dedication, a table of contents, and publisher data such as the book's edition or printing number and place of publication. Between the body copy and the back cover goes theend matter which would include any indices, sets of tables, diagrams, glossaries, or lists of cited works (though an edited book with several authors usually places cited works at the end of each authored chapter). Theinside back cover page, like that inside the front cover, is usually blank. Theback cover is the usual place for the book'sISBN and maybe a photograph of the author(s)/ editor(s), perhaps with a short introduction to them. Also here often appear plot summaries, barcodes, and excerpted reviews of the book.[61]
The body of a book is usually divided into parts, chapters, sections, and sometimes subsections that are composed of at least a paragraph or more.
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover.[62] A series of terms commonly used by contemporary libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books ranges fromfolio (the largest), toquarto (smaller) andoctavo (still smaller). Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers and bibliographers to indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves (or 8 pages), each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that aleaf refers to the single piece of paper, whereas apage is one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined from examination of the books, bibliographers may not use these terms in scholarly descriptions.
While some form of book illustration has existed since the invention of writing, the modern Western tradition of illustration began with 15th-centuryblock books, in which the book's text and images were cut into the same block.[63] Techniques such asengraving,etching, andlithography have also been influential.
Manufacturing
Paperback book covers and pages being bound with a hot glue binding machine
Books tend to be manufactured nowadays in a few standard sizes. Thesizes of books are usually specified as "trim size": the size of the page after the sheet has been folded and trimmed.Hardcover books have a stiff binding, whilepaperback books have cheaper, flexible covers. A hardback book will have more steps in its creation than a paperback.
Recent developments in book manufacturing include the development of digital printing. Book pages are printed, in much the same way as an office copier works. Each book is printed in one pass. Digital printing has permitted the manufacture of much smaller quantities than offset. Digital printing has opened up the possibility of print-on-demand, where books are printed only after an order is received.
An audiobook or talking book is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions areabridgements.
Spoken audio has been available inschools andpublic libraries and to a lesser extent inmusic shops since the 1930s. Manyspoken word albums were made prior to the age ofcassettes,compact discs, anddownloadable audio, often ofpoetry andplays rather than books. It was not until the 1980s that the medium began to attract book retailers, and then book retailers started displaying audiobooks on bookshelves rather than in separate displays.
An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on theflat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices.[65] Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book",[66] some ebooks exist without a printed equivalent. Ebooks can be read on dedicatede-reader devices and on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, includingdesktop computers,laptops,tablets andsmartphones.
In some markets, the sale of printed books has decreased due to the increased use of e-books. However, printed books still largely outsell ebooks, and many people have a preference for print.[67][68][69][70]
An example of someone using ascreen reader showing documents that are inaccessible, readable, and accessible
Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. It is particularly relevant for people who are blind,visually impaired or otherwiseprint-disabled.
Alternative formats that have been developed to aid different people to read include varieties of largerfonts, specialized fonts for certain kinds ofreading disabilities, braille, ebooks, and automated audiobooks andDAISY digital talking books.
Accessible publishing has been made easier through developments in technology such as print on demand, ebook readers, theXML structured data format, theEPUB3 format, and the Internet.
Content
ABouquiniste in Paris selling secondhand and antiquarian books
Libraries, bookstores, and collections commonly divide books intofiction andnon-fiction, though other types exist beyond this. Some stores specialize in buying and sellingsecondhand or used books. Other books, which remainunpublished or are primarily published as part of different business functions (such as phone directories), may not be sold by bookstores or collected by libraries. Manuscripts, logbooks, and other records may be classified and stored differently byspecial collections orarchives.
Fiction
Fiction books are invented material, typically narratives. Other literary forms such aspoetry are included in the broad category. Most fiction is additionally categorized byliterary form andgenre.
Thenovel is the most common form of fiction book. Novels are extended works of narrative fiction, typically featuring a plot, setting, themes, and characters. The novel has had a tremendous impact on entertainment and publishing markets.[71][better source needed] Anovella is a term sometimes used for fictionprose typically between 17,500 and 40,000 words, and anovelette between 7,500 and 17,500. Ashort story may be any length up to 10,000 words, but these word lengths vary.
Comic books orgraphic novels are books in which the story is illustrated. The characters and narrators use speech or thought bubbles to express verbal language.
Non-fiction books are in principle based on fact, encompassing subjects such as history, politics, social and cultural issues, as well asautobiographies andmemoirs. Nearly allacademic literature is non-fiction.
Reference books are non-fiction books intended to be quickly referred to for information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in these works is informative; the authors avoid opinions and the use of the first person and emphasize facts.
Analmanac is a very general reference book, usually one-volume, with lists of data and information on many topics. Anencyclopedia is a book or set of books designed to have more in-depth articles on many topics. A book listing words, their etymology, meanings, and other information is called adictionary. Anatlas is a book containing a collection ofmaps. A specialized reference work giving information about a particular field or technique, often intended for professional use, is often called ahandbook. Books which try to list references and abstracts in a certain broad area may be called anindex, such asEngineering Index, orabstracts such as chemical abstracts and biological abstracts.
Books with technical information on how to do something or how to use some equipment are calledinstruction manuals. Other popular how-to books includecookbooks andhome improvement books.
Educational
Students often carrytextbooks and schoolbooks for study purposes.Lap books are a learning tool created by students.Elementary school pupils often useworkbooks, which are published with spaces or blanks to be filled by them for study orhomework. In UShigher education, it is common for a student to take an exam using ablue book.
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts that variousreligions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments, andlaws, ethical conduct, spiritual aspirations, and admonitions for fostering a religious community.
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created forchildren. In addition to conventionalliterary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reader, ranging frompicture books for the very young toyoung adult fiction for those nearing maturity.
Children's literature can be traced to traditional stories likefairy tales, which have only been identified as children's literature since the seventeenth century, and songs, part of a wideroral tradition, which adults shared with children before publishing existed. The development of early children's literature, before printing was invented, is difficult to trace. Even after printing became widespread, many classic "children's" tales were originally created for adults and later adapted for a younger audience. Since the fifteenth century much literature has been aimed specifically at children, often with a moral or religious message. Children's literature has been shaped by religious sources, like Puritan traditions, or by more philosophical and scientific standpoints with the influences of Charles Darwin and John Locke.[72] The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are known as the "Golden Age of Children's Literature" because many classic children's books were published then.
Personal and public libraries, archives, and other forms of book collection have led to the creation of many different organization and classification strategies. In the 19th and 20th centuries, libraries and library professionals systematized book collecting and classification systems to respond to the growing industry. The most widely used system isISBN, which has provided unique identifiers for books since 1970.
TheLibrary of Celsus inEphesus, Turkey, was built in 135 AD, and could house around 12,000 scrolls.
A library is a collection of books, and possibly othermaterials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location, a virtual space, or both. A library's collection normally includes printed materials that may be borrowed, and usually also includes a reference section of publications that may only be utilized inside the premises. Resources such as commercial releases of films, television programs, other video recordings, radio, music, and audio recordings may be available in many formats. These includeDVDs,Blu-rays,CDs,cassettes, or other applicable formats such asmicroform. They may also provide access to information, music, or other content held onbibliographic databases.
Libraries can vary widely in size and may be organized and maintained by a public body such as a government, an institution (such as a school or museum), a corporation, or a private individual. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services oflibrarians who are trained experts in finding, selecting, circulating, and organising information while interpreting information needs and navigating and analyzing large amounts of information with a variety of resources.
Library buildings often provide quiet areas for studying, as well as common areas for group study and collaboration, and may provide public facilities for access to their electronic resources, such as computers and access to the Internet.
The library's clientele and general services offered vary depending on its type: users of apublic library have different needs from those of aspecial library or academic library, for example. Libraries may also be community hubs, where programs are made available and people engage in lifelong learning. Modern libraries extend their services beyond the physical walls of the building by providing material accessible by electronic means, including from home via the Internet.
In 2011, theInternational Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) created theInternational Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) to standardize descriptions in bibliographies and library catalogs. Each book is specified by an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, which is meant to be unique to every edition of every book produced by participating publishers, worldwide. It is managed by the ISBN Society. An ISBN has four parts: the first part is the country code, the second is the publisher code, and the third is the title code. The last part is acheck digit, and can take values from 0–9 and X (10). TheEANBarcodes numbers for books are derived from the ISBN by prefixing 978, forBookland, and calculating a new check digit.
Commercial publishers in industrialized countries generally assign ISBNs to their books, so buyers may presume that the ISBN is part of a total international system, with no exceptions. However, many government publishers, in industrial as well as developing countries, do not participate fully in the ISBN system and publish books that do not have ISBNs. A large or public collection requires acatalogue. Codes called "call numbers" relate the books to the catalogue, and determine their locations on the shelves. Call numbers are based on aLibrary classification system. The call number is placed on the spine of the book, normally a short distance before the bottom, and inside. Institutional or national standards, such asANSI/NISO Z39.41 – 1997, establish the correct way to place information (such as thetitle, or the name of the author) on book spines, and on "shelvable" book-like objects, such as containers forDVDs,video tapes andsoftware.
Books on library shelves and call numbers visible on the spines
One of the earliest and most widely known systems of cataloguing books is theDewey Decimal System. Another widely known system is theLibrary of Congress Classification system. Both systems are biased towards subjects which were well represented in US libraries when they were developed, and hence have problems handling new subjects, such as computing, or subjects relating to other cultures.[73] Information about books and authors can be stored in databases likeonline general-interest book databases.Metadata, which means "data about data" is information about a book. Metadata about a book may include its title, ISBN or other classification number (see above), the names of contributors (author, editor, illustrator) and publisher, its date and size, the language of the text, its subject matter, etc.
Book and paper conservation seeks to prevent and, in some cases, reverse damage due to handling,inherent vice, and the environment.[75][76] Conservators determine proper methods ofstorage for books and documents, including boxes and shelving to prevent further damage and promote long-term storage.[77] Carefully chosen methods and techniques of active conservation can both reverse damage and prevent further damage in batches or single-item treatments based on the value of the book or document.[78]
Historically, book restoration techniques were less formalized and carried out by various roles and training backgrounds. Nowadays, the conservation of paper documents and books is often performed by a professional conservator.[76][79] Many paper or book conservators are members of a professional body, such as theAmerican Institute for Conservation (AIC) or theGuild of Bookworkers (both in the United States), theArchives and Records Association (in the United Kingdom and Ireland), or theInstitute of Conservation (ICON) (in the United Kingdom).[80]
A genre ofarts criticism,literary criticism orliterary studies is the study,evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced byliterary theory, which is thephilosophical analysis of literature's goals and methods. Although the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists.[81][82][83]
Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a separate field of inquiry fromliterary theory is a matter of some controversy. For example,The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism[84] does not distinguish literary theory and literary criticism, and almost always uses the terms together to describe the same concept. Some critics consider literary criticism a practical application of literary theory, because criticism always deals directly with particular literary works, while theory may be more general or abstract.[85]
Abook review is a form ofliterary criticism in which a book is described, and usually further analyzed based on content, style, and merit.[86] A book review may be aprimary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view.[87] Books can be reviewed for printed periodicals, magazines, and newspapers, as school work, or for book websites on the Internet. A book review's length may vary from a single paragraph to a substantialessay. Such areview may evaluate the book based on personal taste. Reviewers may use the occasion of a book review for an extended essay that can be closely or loosely related to the subject of the book, or to promulgate their ideas on the topic of a fiction ornon-fiction work.
Book censorship is the act of some authority taking measures to suppress ideas and information within a book.[88]Censorship is "the regulation of free speech and other forms of entrenched authority".[89] Censors typically identify as either a concerned parent, community members who react to a text without reading, or local or national organizations.[90] Books have been censored by authoritarian dictatorships to silence dissent, such as thePeople's Republic of China,Nazi Germany, and theSoviet Union. Books are most often censored for age appropriateness, offensive language, sexual content, amongst other reasons.[91] Similarly, religions may issue lists of banned books, such as the historical example of theCatholic Church'sIndex Librorum Prohibitorum and bans of such books asSalman Rushdie'sThe Satanic Verses byAyatollah Khomeini,[92] which do not always carry legal force. Censorship can be enacted at the national or subnational level as well, and can carry legal penalties. In many cases, the authors of these books could face harsh sentences, exile from the country, or even execution.[93][94]
Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element ofcensorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials in question.[95] Book burning can be an act of contempt for the book's contents or author, intended to draw wider public attention to this opposition, or conceal the information contained in the text from being made public, such as diaries or ledgers. Burning and other methods of destruction are together known as biblioclasm or libricide.
In other cases, such as theNazi book burnings, copies of the destroyed books survive, but the instance of book burning becomes emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime which is seeking to censor or silence some aspect of prevailing culture.
^The oldest surviving papyrus with hieroglyphic writing is theDiary of Merer, a logbook recording the transport of stone used to build theGreat Pyramid of Giza.[28]
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^abFeather, John; Sturges, Paul (2003).International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 41–44.ISBN0-415-25901-0.OCLC50480180.
^Pilcher, Helen R. (April 30, 2003). "Earliest Handwriting Found? Chinese Relics Hint at Neolithic Rituals".Nature.doi:10.1038/news030428-7.Symbols carved into tortoise shells more than 8,000 years ago ... unearthed at a mass-burial site at Jiahu in the Henan Province of western China
^Robinson, Andrew (2010). "Writing Systems". In Suarez, Michael F. (ed.).The Oxford Companion to the Book. Oxford reference online Oxford digital reference shelf. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.ISBN978-0-19-957014-0.
Hicks, Ronald G. (1977).A Survey of Mass Communication. Pelican Publishing Company. p. 101.ISBN978-0-88289-164-4.The cuneiform clay tablets of the Sumerians in 4000 B.C. may be regarded as the precursors of books.
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Kamrin, Janice (March 1, 2015)."Papyrus in Ancient Egypt".The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art Histor.
^abKallendorf, Craig (2013). "The Ancient Book". In Suarez, Michael F.; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.).The Book: A Global History (First ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 39–.ISBN978-0-19-967941-6.
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