Deck 4: Books: The Birth of the Mass Media

Question 1

What author paved the way for contemporary fantasy literature?

A)Judy Blume
B)Stephen King
C)J.K.Rowling
D)J.R.R.Tolkien

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary took approximately ______ years to produce.

A)10
B)30
C)70
D)90

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What invention directly led to the production of inexpensive dime novels?

A)Gutenberg's typemold and printing press
B)the steam-powered rotary press
C)desktop publishing programs on the Macintosh computer
D)the Internet

Answer 3

B

Question 4

______ was an important newspaper,magazine,and book publisher in colonial and revolutionary America.
A)Ida M.Tarbell

A)Tisch
B)Benjamin Franklin
C)Laurence
D)John Rawls

Question 5

A writing system where abstract symbols stand for an object or idea is which of the following?

A)ideographs
B)pictographs
C)phonography
D)alphabets

Question 6

John Green is known for ______.

A)his popular young adult novels,such as The Fault in Our Stars
B)winning a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant"
C)writing an eleven-book series of Marvel's Ms.Marvel comic
D)all of these

Question 7

Which of the following is true about the majority of book authors?

A)They become wealthy.
B)They self-publish their books.
C)They fabricate major details about their lives.
D)They make a modest income from their books.

Question 8

Printing was invented by which of the following?

A)the Egyptians in about 3,000 BC
B)the Chinese prior to 200 AD
C)the Koreans in 1200 AD
D)the Germans in the 1450s AD

Question 9

Papyrus is which of the following?

A)an ancient form of writing using symbols to stand for ideas
B)an ancient form of writing using symbols for sound
C)an early writing surface made from animal skin
D)an early writing surface made of reeds by the Egyptians

Question 10

A form of picture writing that has become popular through the use of touch screen devices in the 21st century is known as ______.

A)ideographs
B)pictographs
C)phonography
D)emojis

Question 11

Which of the following was the earliest form of writing?

A)ideographs
B)pictographs
C)phonography
D)emojis

Question 12

Parchment is which of the following?

A)an ancient form of writing using symbols to stand for ideas
B)an ancient form of writing using symbols for sound
C)an early writing surface made from animal skin
D)an early writing surface made of reeds by the Egyptians

Question 13

Between 2009 and 2015,the number of independent book stores in the United States _____.

A)continued a long running decline with a 20% decrease
B)stayed roughly steady in terms of numbers
C)increased by 35% over the period
D)you can't fool me;there aren't a significant number of indie bookstores any more.

Question 14

J.R.R.Tolkien's novel The Hobbit was first published after which of the following occurred?

A)His publisher's 10-year-old son said he liked it.
B)The first three chapters were distributed over the Internet.
C)Fifty-five publishers rejected it.
D)He cut it in length by 75,000 words.

Question 15

Pearson,the world's largest publisher,is best known for ______.

A)financial publications
B)the Harry Potter series
C)books for the education market
D)popular trade books

Question 16

According the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics,the median income for writers and authors is approximately ______ a year.

A)$27,600
B)$61,240
C)$123,750
D)$223,245

Question 17

Which of the following was the most important effect of the printing press and movable type?

A)Ideas could spread rapidly beyond the communities where they originated.
B)Book publishing became profitable.
C)Spelling became standardized.
D)Books could be printed in German instead of Latin.

Question 18

In order for books to become popular,which of the following needed to occur?

A)a rapid form of printing
B)a literate public
C)an inexpensive source of paper
D)all of these

Question 19

The primary function of a book publisher is which of the following?

A)to print books
B)to sell books in bookstores
C)to buy manuscripts from authors and turn them into books
D)to supply books to media reviewers

Question 20

A major change by the Unicode Consortium in 2018 was to add what kind of emojis?

A)a frowny poop emoji to go with the smiling one
B)skulls with spiders or snakes coming out of them
C)new styles of people emojis with varying skin tones and hair types
D)multiple styles of pickles

Question 21

Books were being printed in Mexico City as early as the 1540s.

Question 22

What do The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,Beloved,The Scarlet Letter,and Of Mice and Men have in common?

A)They all were written in the 19th century.
B)People have attempted to ban each of them.
C)They were all written by Kurt Vonnegut.
D)They each deal with the Holocaust.

Question 23

Gutenberg's invention of movable type led to the world's first mass media.

Question 24

Audiobooks have become more popular in part because of the ready availability of smartphones and smart speakers.

Question 25

Which of the following is a major advantage of electronic books?

A)The batteries will last a week a time.
B)The e-book device is relatively inexpensive.
C)The customer can carry 10 or more books in the space of a single book.
D)The screens of e-books are easier to read than the pages of conventional books.

Question 26

Scriptoria was an early typeface designed by Gutenberg.

Question 27

The federal government is one of the largest publishers in the United States.

Question 28

The College Board estimates that students spend an average of $2,250 on textbooks and supplies per year.

Question 29

Janet Evanovich became a best-selling author by doing which of the following?

A)combining elements of the romance and mystery genres
B)selling her books using publish-on-demand technology through her website
C)taking on a male pen name to sell her technological thrillers
D)signing a contract with a small university press

Question 30

The Oxford English Dictionary is routinely updated with new words such as mansplain and hangry.

Question 31

The people who choose which textbook to use are also the people who buy them.

Question 32

Prior to the development of Gutenberg's printing press,there were no books published.

Question 33

The development of the printing press led to the standardizing of language,spelling,and grammar.

Question 34

Books are distributed to bookstores by which of the following?

A)companies like Amazon.com
B)companies like the Ingram Book Group
C)Barnes & Noble
D)publishers sending the books directly to the bookstores

Question 35

Inclusive access programs are where a university licenses textbooks and other materials from publishers and make them available to all campus students.

Question 36

The Ingram Book Group is the book wholesaler that distributes books to independent bookstores and Amazon.com.

Question 37

Why do libraries remain relevant in the 21st century?

A)They provide Internet access to people who don't have it at home.
B)They have large collections of electronic documents.
C)They provide audiobooks and e-books for checkout.
D)all of these

Question 38

Publishers view books as one more product in the entertainment business.

Question 39

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne despised the women novelists of his era because their domestic novels sold much better than his serious novels.

Question 40

The earliest libraries were likely large collections of inscribed clay tablets dating back to before 2100 BC.

Question 41

Name an advantage that electronic books offer over paper books.

Question 42

Name a disadvantage of electronic books.

Question 43

What is an illuminated manuscript?

Question 44

Name and explain two inventions that broadened the availability of books.

Question 45

According to your textbook,what are two reasons people might want to ban/restrict books?

Question 46

Author Jonathan Franzen likes e-books because they are easier to keep up to date than conventional paper books.

Question 47

Use concepts discussed in the book so far to explain why the Unicode Consortium put so much effort into making sure that emojis represent a wide range of skin tones and hair color/styles?

Question 48

Name the three major players (or elements)of the book business.

Question 49

One of the most likely targets for electronic books will be textbooks.

Question 50

Name a long-tail bookseller,and explain what makes it part of the long tail.

Question 51

Why did the New York Times best-selling young-adult author John Green take 6 years between his novels The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down?

Question 52

In a brief essay,explain why independent bookstores have staged a resurgence since 2009.

Question 53

In the United States,books are usually banned at a national level and are generally unavailable once they have been banned.

Question 54

In a brief essay,discuss the steps a book goes through before it is purchased by the public.

Question 55

In a brief essay,discuss how the development of the printing press changed the world in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Question 56

Briefly explain the difference between an ideograph and an alphabet writing system.

Question 57

One reason that independent bookstores grew in popularity over the last several years is because they have a good understanding of the types of books their customers like.

Question 58

Amazon.com would be considered primarily a "short-head" book retailer.

Question 59

Name and define two predecessors of paper used as writing surfaces.

Question 60

What is a serial novel,and when were they popular?

Question 61

In a brief essay,explain why the Anne Frank House might have decided to publish a graphic novel account of the life of Anne Frank.