full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Julie Dreyfuss: The evolution of the book


Unscramble the Blue Letters


What makes a book a book? Is it just anything that stores and communicates information? Or does it have to do with ppaer, binding, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages? Is this a book? Probably not. But is this?

To answer these questions, we need to go back to the start of the book as we know it and understand how these elements came together to make something more than the sum of their parts. The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex: a stack of pages bound along one edge. But the real turning point in book history was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century. The concept of moveable type had been invented much eliraer in Eastern culture, but the iutcritodnon of Gutenberg's pesrs had a profound effect. Suddenly, an elite class of monks and the ruling class no longer controlled the production of txets. msaegses could spread more easily, and ciepos could cantnsloty be pecrodud, so printing houses popped up all over eroupe.

Open Cloze


What makes a book a book? Is it just anything that stores and communicates information? Or does it have to do with _____, binding, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages? Is this a book? Probably not. But is this?

To answer these questions, we need to go back to the start of the book as we know it and understand how these elements came together to make something more than the sum of their parts. The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex: a stack of pages bound along one edge. But the real turning point in book history was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century. The concept of moveable type had been invented much _______ in Eastern culture, but the ____________ of Gutenberg's _____ had a profound effect. Suddenly, an elite class of monks and the ruling class no longer controlled the production of _____. ________ could spread more easily, and ______ could __________ be ________, so printing houses popped up all over ______.

Solution


  1. introduction
  2. produced
  3. constantly
  4. europe
  5. earlier
  6. paper
  7. messages
  8. copies
  9. texts
  10. press

Original Text


What makes a book a book? Is it just anything that stores and communicates information? Or does it have to do with paper, binding, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages? Is this a book? Probably not. But is this?

To answer these questions, we need to go back to the start of the book as we know it and understand how these elements came together to make something more than the sum of their parts. The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex: a stack of pages bound along one edge. But the real turning point in book history was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century. The concept of moveable type had been invented much earlier in Eastern culture, but the introduction of Gutenberg's press had a profound effect. Suddenly, an elite class of monks and the ruling class no longer controlled the production of texts. Messages could spread more easily, and copies could constantly be produced, so printing houses popped up all over Europe.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
printing press 2



Important Words


  1. answer
  2. binding
  3. book
  4. bound
  5. century
  6. class
  7. communicates
  8. concept
  9. constantly
  10. controlled
  11. copies
  12. culture
  13. earlier
  14. earliest
  15. easily
  16. eastern
  17. edge
  18. effect
  19. elements
  20. elite
  21. europe
  22. font
  23. hands
  24. history
  25. houses
  26. information
  27. ink
  28. introduction
  29. invented
  30. johannes
  31. longer
  32. messages
  33. monks
  34. moveable
  35. object
  36. pages
  37. paper
  38. parts
  39. point
  40. popped
  41. press
  42. printing
  43. produced
  44. production
  45. profound
  46. questions
  47. real
  48. ruling
  49. smell
  50. spread
  51. stack
  52. start
  53. stores
  54. suddenly
  55. sum
  56. texts
  57. turning
  58. type
  59. understand
  60. weight