The State of Print Today
Today, print has matured to a state where the majority of modern society has come to have certain expectations regarding the printed book:
- The knowledge contained by printed books is believed to be accurate.
- The cited author of a printed book does indeed exist and is actually the person who wrote it.
- Every copy of a printed book is identical (at least in the important aspects) to every other copy, no matter how far apart the locations are in which they are sold.
Copyright laws help to protect these standards. However, a few regions do exist in the world where literary piracy has become a standard commercial practice. In such regions, the preceding expectations are not the norm. (Johns 61)
Currently, there are still approximately 2.3 billion books still sold each year worldwide. However, this number is steadily decreasing due to the ever-growing popularity of the Internet and other forms of digital media.
Read more about this topic: Print Culture
Famous quotes containing the words state, print and/or today:
“Anything goes in Wichita. Leave your revolvers at police headquarters and get a check.”
—For the State of Kansas, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The Anglo-American can indeed cut down, and grub up all this waving forest, and make a stump speech, and vote for Buchanan on its ruins, but he cannot converse with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I became the Incredible Shrinking Mother the year they started junior high. If our relationship today depended on physical clout, I would have about the same influence with them that the republic of Liechtenstein has on world politics.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)