The Biblical prose has to be largely whittled down to fit in 140 characters, of course, yet the project seems very popular (at least statistic-wise, boasting 19,426 followers while following only 91.) The study concludes: “that the box cardboard is often more nutritious than the cereals inside.” What Is a Book?Īside from the entertainment value of this whole story, I think there is a renewed interest in those matters since the growing popularity of the eBook, Twitter and digital modes of writing in general.Īs an example, there is a UK-based Twitter account that set to summarize the bible with “one tweet per chapter”. Telling this story to University students the author quotes a related study done with rats where one group was given cereals to eat and the other group were fed only on the cardboard box containing the cereal. Only later, a book describing the defining characteristics of “a book”, written by the UNESCO, convinced the British Museum to accept it. But the British Museum sent it back, saying it was “not a book at all”. People were upset that the book about people being upset about a book because it contained so little – contained so little!Īs is custom in Britain, where the book was first published, one unit has to be sent to the British Museum in London, to be archived. There was a public outcry, of course! People wanted their money back. What do you think happened after its release? The book was called “The Book of The Book”. Shah put these nine pages in print, added 300 blank (!) pages to give it the impression of being a big book, and to top it off put it in a gold-embossed cover.

The re-telling of this story (which is more than 700 years old) occupied around nine pages with ca 1500 words. In 1969, the author Idries Shah retold the ancient legend of a man with a big book that contained only very little writing and people who were very upset that it contained so little. Once upon a time, a book was published which, to some people, was “no book at all”.

The book of the book idries shah