Archive for the ‘Publishing Industry’ Category
Incredible Super Buttery Nuggat
Posted on: October 19, 2010
978-0-441-0615-9
Incredible Super Buttery Nuggat? I would so eat that.
Ikea’s Somewhat Burnt Nutella? I would so NOT eat that.
International Superficial Blockbuster News? Don’t we already have this?
Itty Snitty Bitty Numbers? you’re getting close!
Or, something far less interesting, the International Standard Book Number.
Pick up any modern* book, look for the bar code on the back. See the numbers above or below? That’s the ISBN – 10 or 13 digits, and unique to that edition. It’s a searchable field on Amazon, and is 100% percent required for any book that wants to be sold in any bookstore, online, or catalogued in any library. You can thank our obsession with organization, computers, and the gazillions of books that are published every year for that.
* Modern??? Maybe the book you picked up was printed before 1970 (I have a lot of these), or maybe it was printed outside the US/UK/Western Europe (I have a few of these), or it might be a newer, uber-custom print. In that case, it may not have an ISBN. Good luck cataloging that baby on Goodreads, Shelfari or Librarything.
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