A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A book produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book (e-book).
Books may also refer to works of literature, or a main division of such a work. In library and information science, a book is called a monograph, to distinguish it from serial periodicals such as magazines, journals or newspapers. The body of all written works including books is literature. In novels and sometimes other types of books (for example, biographies), a book may be divided into several large sections, also called books (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, and so on). A lover of books is usually referred to as a bibliophile or, more informally, a bookworm — an avid reader of books.
A shop where books are bought and sold is a bookshop or bookstore. Books can also be borrowed from libraries. Google has estimated that as of 2010, approximately 130,000,000 unique titles had been published.
Read more about Book: Etymology, Book Manufacturing in The Modern World, Book Design, Sizes, Collections of Books, Identification and Classification, Uses For Books, Paper and Conservation Issues
Famous quotes containing the word book:
“Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“It is with a good book as it is with good company.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What was really horrifying about jail is that it really isn’t horrifying. You adjust very easily.”
—Roberta Victor, U.S. prostitute. As quoted in Working, book 2, by Studs Terkel (1973)