International Coalition for British Reparations logo
International Coalition for British Reparations: People of the World, it's Time to get Paid.

Briton Turns Wikipedia Into Book

07.01.2009 - Wikipedia turned into book

A Briton by the name of Rob Matthews decided to print out every Wikipedia article and bind the pages into a book. At 5,000 pages and 1ft 7ins thick, it's a gargantuan book.

Asked why he went through the painstaking labor of putting together the encyclopedia, Mr. Matthews answered: "I wanted to make a comment on how everyone goes to the internet these days for information, yet it is very unreliable compared to what it has replaced."

Though he sounds like a salty 87-year-old librarian, Mr. Matthews is actually a 22-year-old graphic design student. We're astounded as to how such a young person could have such an archaic view of technology. Not only that, but how does printing Wikipedia make any statement at all? If anything, it only reiterates the point that thanks to the internet, we're privy to a lot more information that ever before.

Mr. Matthews says that the reaction to his project has been positive: "The reaction's been great - it makes people laugh, which is good," he said. You know, Mr. Matthews, the public is laughing at you, not with you. You know that, right? They're not thinking, "That astute young man has a point," they're thinking, "That f*cking moron wasted a lot of ink."

Why don't you go print out Facebook profiles and blame them for replacing those dreaded high school yearbooks—you know, those absurdly expensive books they sell at the end of every school year filled awkward laser-background pictures of teenagers with regrettable haircuts making idiotic expressions.

Back to News