What is a Book?

"Can a 'book' be defined by its physical properties alone?"

This individual project explored the question "What is a Book?" and the surrounding issues of how people identify and conceptualize everyday things.

My research began by exploring the many ways one might answer the question. I also engaged my colleagues with an hour-long game in which I put a large number of book-like (and not-so-book-like) objects on the table and asked them to remove as many as possible in an hour. The only rule was that unanimous agreement whether something was a book was required for removal. At the end of the hour only 3 of the 30 objects had been taken off.

The video I produced as a deliverable explores the physical properties of books by comparing them to a sandwich.

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