Books first appeared 2,000 years ago. People wrote by hand, so no two books looked the same. Books were big, heavy and expensive and not many people could read. The first revolution was Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1440. Printing presses could print thousands of books quickly and cheaply. By 1500 there were 20 million books in Europe and millions of people learnt to read. Today, 99% of Europeans can read. The second revolution was more recent. Publishers started to use computers to produce books about twenty years ago. Traditional presses started to disappear and people began to produce
books electronically. People also started to read newspapers and magazines online and some people thought that paper books would disappear one day. Now the digital revolution is here! E-book readers have arrived and personal webpages and blogs have also become more popular. Did you know that 31% of people between the ages of fourteen and twenty one have got their own blog or webpage? ‘Print on demand’ is another part of the digital revolution. Soon, you’ll be able to choose a book from a selection of millions in any bookshop. A machine will print your book while you wait in the shop! You’ll be able to print books that you’ve written, too.
I. Answer the questions. Write complete sentences.
1. How does the writer describe the books of
2,000 years ago?
2. What were the advantages of printing
presses?
3. Why did some people think that books
would disappear?
4. What is ‘print on demand’?
2. The advantages of printing presses were that they could print thousands of books quickly and cheaply. This led to a significant increase in the number of books available. By 1500, there were 20 million books in Europe and millions of people learned to read.
3. Some people thought that books would disappear because publishers started using computers to produce books. Traditional presses started to disappear as books were being produced electronically. People also started reading newspapers and magazines online, leading to the belief that paper books would eventually disappear as well.
4. 'Print on demand' is a part of the digital revolution where you can choose a book from a selection of millions in any bookshop. Instead of having pre-printed books on the shelves, a machine will print your selected book while you wait in the shop. It also allows individuals to print books that they have written themselves.