The carrier of information, the best gift, the food for the mind ... The book is what?

Each of us knows perfectly well what the book is. A small thing, but dear to the heart, opening a new world. Special love is experienced by real connoisseurs of literature, book lovers who can not live a day without reading. In the world there is a whole classification of literary works. They differ in a number of features, but on the whole they have a single message - an informational report to the reader. Let's try to answer the question: "The book is what?".

Transfer of information

The history of the creation of the book goes far back in the past centuries. Now we are accustomed to seeing it in a beautiful cover, with a hard cover, which allows us to maintain quality for years to come. The design is an integral part of the creation of the book, because the buyer will pay no less attention to the visual image than to the content.

But looking at the past, we can say that in a simple sense, a book is the transmission of information, a message addressed to another person. Hence - the desire of primitive people to transfer the accumulated knowledge to the future generation. Then they had no opportunity for this. And yet, representatives of the ancient civilization found a way out of the situation.

What was the first?

If you turn to word formation, from the Proto-Slavic language "book" - it's folded, fastened sheets, which were replaced by scrolls. The system of recording information has become an integral part of book development. To preserve it, our ancestors came up with ways to express themselves in practice. The first of these became clay tablets, and already afterwards went the sheets of metal, the bark of trees.

Tablets were a stable medium of information. Clay and wax, they equally included the pros and cons of their use. So, in the first case, the tablets had to be burned to fix the text, which was no longer subject to change. When using wax, the inscription could be erased. In ancient Rome, used plates, fastened together. Named by the code, they formed a modern book prototype.

Development of book formats

It is known that in ancient Egypt used papyrus, considered the progenitor of the paper familiar to us today. His sheets were combined into scrolls - the original formats of books, which, along with the bark of the tree, were widely used. In the Middle Ages handwritten publications (manuscripts) were distributed. They were created in special workshops, and for those who possessed a beautiful handwriting, the post of scribe was invented. Inks were used to apply the text and reed feathers. Later the color scheme was applied, which allowed painting the manuscripts.

Woodblock (in the modern view it is a stencil for multi-purpose use) first appeared in the XIV century. A matrix was cut from the wood, which was dipped in ink and imprinted on several copies. In our time, a similar procedure with ease makes a copier.

The place of the book in the development of literature

The appearance of Old Russian literature is associated with the creation of statehood in Russia in the 9th century. In the pre-Christian period, writing already existed. By this time, they include the creation of the verbal alphabet, which led to the formation of the alphabet, traditionally called Cyrillic alphabet. The adoption of Christianity was marked with the introduction to the book culture. One of the first literary monuments was "The Word of Law and Grace," written by Metropolitan Illarion in the 11th century. Later there is "The Tale of Bygone Years" and "The Teachings" by Vladimir Monomakh. Then follow "The Lay of Igor's Host", "The Tale of the Ruination of Ryazan Batu".

With the development of literature in subsequent centuries, Russian books acquire a broad social significance. In the light of the work of the classics: Pushkin (who is considered the father-progenitor of literature), Lomonosov, Tolstoy, Turgenev and many other eminent writers. The golden and silver age transfer their rights to the present day - it is marked by an unprecedented growth in book publishing and the emergence of a huge number of authors of various trends.

Particular attention should be paid to Russian literature of the Soviet era. It was marked by a difficult time for the country. Many writers were forced to go into exile, but in general this is not due to the lack of recognized classics works. For a whole century poetry, the theme of revolutions and war, historical prose, satirical, sci-fi, dramatic direction, lyrics, magical realism, camp, village and city prose found their place. The unknown genres of the detective, thriller, romanticism, postmodernism, realism, conceptualism, symbolism, neo-realism were especially developed. Not every modern reader understands these concepts, but they do exist as an independent genre.

Authors of works

Over the centuries-old history of the book, the reading public has met a number of writers. The authors of the books did not appear to be special people. On the contrary, they were "natives of the masses," often writing about what they saw around them. There were also those who presented to the public new ideas that did not immediately find recognition. The genre of fantasy and its vivid representatives are among them: Vladimir Obruchev, Alexander Belyaev, Grigory Adamov, Vasily Aksenov, Kir Bulychev, Ivan Efremov, Anatoly Dneprov. The Strugatsky brothers, who are considered classics of Soviet fiction, rightfully have the right to play the game.

In the modern reading world, the book is still relevant. Within the framework of the state program on the occasion of the Year of Literature, a number of activities aimed at increasing the importance of the book are planned. In many libraries of the country there will pass festivals, actions, competitions. Every book reader will discover something new and fascinating.

Modern formats of books, besides the usual book variant, include electronic and audiobook. The first is intended for reading on a digital medium. Often they are CDs and DVDs, players, tablets. The peculiarity of the second is that it should be listened to, because it consists of an audio recording.

Book today

In the current state, the book has undergone a number of changes. Remaining the key type of printed products, it was divided into periodicals, notebooks and albums, the book formats customary for us, made with text writing or handwritten, graphic illustrations, soft and hard bindings. But most often it is accepted that a book is a scientific or literary and artistic work in the form of a stitched edition intended for printing.