Printed Page 43

Until fairly recently, books of all kinds took printed form: pages bound together through various devices (such as glue or spiral wire) and enclosed by a cover (cardboard, leather, paper). But with the rise of electronic and digital publishing, book formats have expanded beyond print to include audio (“books on tape,” now available as CDs or MP3 downloads) and e-books (which are accessed on the Internet and read on a computer or a handheld device). Regardless of the format, however, books are still highly diverse in terms of their subject matter.