A book is usually a written medium for documenting specific information in the form of graphics or writing, usually bound together and covered with a case. The technical term for such an arrangement is codex. In some cases, a single book may be used to document different aspects of a subject, such as the history of a particular country, its culture, etc. A book’s pages are referred to as folios.
In the early part of the 20th century, a book was defined by the copyright office of the United States. Copyright law defined a book as any written work containing no literary, dramatic, musical or artistic expression other than what was allowed by the U.S. Copyright Office. Such works could also contain mantras or sayings. A book could also be called a codex. However, the meaning of the term “book” has changed over time. In modern times, a book is considered to be any book that contains printed material other than text.
In reading good books, we come in contact with so many different kinds of objects, some of which are very rare. For example, there are rare volumes on Egyptian pharaohs, a rare piece of furniture, rare antiques, rare coins, and rare drawings, prints, etc. It would not be wrong to say that all these objects of different kinds constitute a book. However, like everything else, the difficulty lies in identifying a unique book among the millions of others that are published every year. This difficulty becomes even more acute in reference books, where for example, a reference book on African safaris, from an author with expertise in such a subject, would hardly be of interest to readers who are not aficionados of Africa safaris. A book on ancient Greek architecture, for instance, will not only appeal to a general reader, but will also be of interest to a specialist who would want to know much more about Greek architecture than the average person.
Another difficulty that arises is the lack of continuity in literature. For example, most children grow up reading books about horses, dogs, knights and villains. While it is possible to write a story about any of those things, the author would need to work around the inconsistencies in those stories to make them work. Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that most good books are written from a non-fictional perspective and therefore have a seamless continuity between the various elements.
The last difficulty that we will discuss is that of writing a good book that can be read by anybody. A good book does not have to be based on any real-life subject, and the author need not even try to fool the audience into thinking that it is based on a real-life subject. The crux of the matter is whether or not the writing is of a non fictional nature, and if so, how the author conceives of the world around him. Although all good books are fictional, the genre of the book itself often reflects who we are as people.
For instance, a book consisting of only prophecy or magic is usually considered to be a classic. However, a story of a man who went from being a poor, unhappy person to wealthy and successful is not usually seen as being of a classical type. It is for this reason that prophecy is traditionally attributed to the Jews, and the use of magic is traditionally attributed to pagans. Therefore, a traditional Jewish or Christian book that contains a prophecy or magical spell is not usually considered to be a classic, but an anonymously written work could very well be classified as such.