OUGD404 | Studio brief 02 - Study task 1/ What is a book?

For this brief we have been challenged to "Produce a set of 10 Double page layouts that explore the form, function and construction of a book." which "should demonstrate a growing understanding of the fundamental principles of type, grid, layout and format". I feel that in order to to this I must expand my research into layouts,grid etc to gain a greater understanding. I can achieve this through books in the library, tutor advice and analysing existing publications. 
There is emphasis in the brief on making my publication readable for the human eye, I must guide the viewer around the page appropriately and I will achieve this as a result of my research. 

At this moment in time I am unsure as to what direction I would take this in. Publications that interest me include photographic/image heavy books, fashion magazines and menus. I aim to find more sources of books that interest me. 

As an introduction to the brief, we considered what actually defines a book. It was commonly agreed that a book consists of a collection (group/multiple) of pages . A page can be defined by its physicality (e.g. A4), something to move or a context that is being used to communicate something e.g. a page can be blank but despite there being no content, it is still a page. 
The more absurd answers were that a book is a smell, a form of material or "foldable trees" . In theory, a website can be considered as a book as it is a collection of webpages that are communicating a message.
This led on to considering the actual purpose of a book. There are many purpose for a book such as being informative, educational and for the purpose of entertainment. Many books are to inspire or even convince. All of these somehow communicate a message. 
Occasionally, a book can be made to create controversy, these books can sometimes contain hidden meanings. Furthermore, books can create the illusion of intelligence. Books are assumed to be correct, whereas facts heard through word of mouth are often perceived to be incorrect. Escapism is usually related to reading a story book, whereby one can take themselves to a different moment in time or a different place. Books usually feature an element from a different period of time, and the book itself serves as a record of this. 
Multiple copies and editions can be made of books as they are continually revised and evolve. This process has become much easier through the development of the internet. Books themselves exist, as obvious as it sounds. It is something that is made physical, whether through an ebook or through paper.
Books themselves can be organised in a number of ways such as through paragraphs, sequentially or chronologically. Some are organised to tell a story (an IKEA contraction manual could even be considered a story) others are organised by choice (author or otherwise).
Books are physically organised through various binding methods, these can include stitching, foldings, glue, staples and many more. The choice of binding depends on many factors such as expense, function, size and paper stock. The culture of the place can also affect the method of organising a book, for example different paper stocks and styles are used in places such as China.
I would have to say that one of my favourite books is "A Cheese and Tomato Spider". This is because the book consists of two separate sections of pages, whereby you can create funny characters by turning the pages in a certain way:

A page from "A Cheese and Tomato Spider"

As you can see there is text on one page and an image on the other. I feel that the text combined with the image adds to the hilarity. This book was very entertaining for me to read with my younger sister.