7/2/13: Books and Sheep

The standard size of modern day books has been determined based on the size of books that were manufactured during the medieval ages.  Turns out, the size of THOSE  books was determined based on the size of the sheep that were around at the time.

Back then, books were made out of parchment, which was made out of animal skin (usually sheep skin).  So, when a sheep is skinned for parchment, and the curvy sections (where it's legs were) are cut out, you get a nice rectangular piece of parchment.  Fold that piece in half twice, and you get a relatively large section of 8 pages to work with, the size of which could be comparable to a dictionary or atlas.  Fold that in half again, and you get 16 pages roughly the size of a standard hardcopy novel.  This size soon became the standard for all books, not by conscious choice, but for convenience.

So, the only reason books are all roughly the same size today is completely due to the fact that sheep were the size they were during the medieval ages.  Yay history!

Source: http://www.gotmedieval.com/2010/08/why-are-books-so-big-google-penance.html

Vocabulary Word of the Day:
Consular: An official appointed by the government of one country to oversee the commercial interests and welfare of another country.

Let's send a consular over to the developing country in order to make sure that our their best interests are always being looked out for.