51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

What is a book? For centuries, our ideas have been shaped by the rhythms and hierarchies inherent in the nature of the printed book. But what constitutes a ""book"" has actually changed enormously over time - from ancient Egyptian papyri to Mayan glyphs to the first products of Gutenberg's fifteenth-century printing revolution. Moreover, as these technologies have changed, so have their associated phenomena of authorship, ownership, and reading itself. And now, as blogs, wikis, and Google shift the discourse from page to screen, the roles of author and reader are morphing and blurring. But is this revolution truly new? We look at books and book culture from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day, investigating these objects, their content, and the relationships they embody.