Catchy title this time. What collection of paper leaves, containing printed text, glued together, counts as a book? Any notebook will easily fill these requirements, as does a handwritten pre-Gutenberg Bible, a brand new handwritten copy of the Tora, and any analog copy of ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance‘ (Robert M. Pirsig). The obvious point of discussion is the notebook. Yes, it does match the requirements as the other books I mentioned, but is it therefore considered a book?

What does Wikipedia have to say about what a book is:

• A book is a written work of substantial length created by one or more authors.
  That sounds reasonable. The question is in the ‘substantial length’. Does that imply the number of pages? The number of words? The percentage of written text? Slightly vague. Luckily, there’s more:
• The term may also refer to the physical or electronic object containing such a work. 
  Well, that doesn’t really help, does it? But then a broader definition is provided:
• Books are sometimes contrasted with periodical literature, such as newspapers or magazines, where new editions are published according to a regular schedule. Some objects broadly described as “books” are left empty for personal use, such as notebooks, diaries, sketchbooks, account books, and autograph books.
  Now we’re getting somewhere, but only if we ignore the word ‘contrasted‘. The examples mentioned are compliant with my definition, but to be contrasted according to wikipedia, excluding newspapers and magazines, and similar, as books. But then Wiki continues categorizing notebooks, diaries, etc., as books.

So a newspaper is not a book, while a novel or the Bible certainly are, as is a notebook alleged to be a book. Notably, Wiki does’t mention creativity, facts, content, chapters, or a minimum size as requirements, which again speaks for the notebook. Apparently, my earlier layman-attempt to define a book was not all that bad!

Who else can we ask?

• Oxford Languages:
  • a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers.
  • a bound set of blank sheets for writing in.

Ok, I did miss the ‘…bound in covers’ part. But, there you have it; a notebook is indeed a book. And it is coming from Oxford, of all places. I’ll happily accept that as fact.

Notebook:

By now, you’ll be wondering about my fascination with notebooks. The short answer would be ‘None whatsoever!’, I haven’t used a notebook in years as I’m all digital on any form of writing.

If you’re a self-publisher as I am, you’ll be familiar with the term ‘Low content’. When setting up your book for publication of a platform as KDP, which is used for Amazon, then you have to answer a number of questions, such as ‘Did you use AI for your book?’ or ‘Is your book a low-content book?’. When I published my first book online, I had to look up stuff like this. Filling out the wrong way on the AI question may very well disqualify your book from ever being published. The AI question is quite new; it was added last summer, but the low-content question was always there.

As I found out when I looked it up, a low-content book is a notebook, but can also be a kids’ coloring book, or an agenda or calendar. While I had no idea that notebooks could be published and sold online, or that anyone even would buy one, I never gave the notebook business any thought. Then it was pointed out that this is indeed part of the writing industry; there are ‘writers’ who do nothing else than publishing various kinds of notebooks. Perhaps some can even make a living that way? Lemme try that.

You did what?

Yes, I wrote a notebook, formatted it in a suitable format (same format as my other real books), and published it. I do have to admit there’s a difference with the other notebooks that I’ve seen; contrary to real notebooks, mine does contain written creative content and facts, and provides space for the reader to make notes and comments on the written content. As such, it could easily be one of my regular books, but with added blank pages – right? Wrong! The book consists of three chapters, each with an average of one page of written text, followed by no less than fifteen blank pages. So it’s more a notebook than it is a novel.  But, there’s an introduction and an epilogue, and a page of useful sources. In short, it is a real book, but the creative content is much less than usual, and there’s more space than usual to make notes. And according to the definitions I could find, it is indeed a book; more specific, a notebook – albeit a rather strange one.

No worries, this notebook project is definitely a one-time fling!

What’s it about?

The title tells it all:

The Art of War
An introduction into voting

As mentioned earlier, the book consists of three chapters:

• How to start a war
• How to end a war, or avoid being attacked
• How to avoid coming close to war

Without giving away too much, the answer to all of these questions is voting. Do not just vote as you’ve always done, but think about what’s going on. See what your representatives have been up to. And how does the world react to whatever your country is doing. In short, you have to keep updated before you vote!

Consuming news is not looking at one single news channel that reflects only your view; it means consuming a variety of news channels of different world views. Preferably, a few of these channels are abroad. And what if you can’t read the language? Presuming you’re reading online: switch on translation in your browser. The translation isn’t perfect, but much better than not reading that news site.

Admittedly, I came to write this book as I read a lot of online comments about folks:

• not knowing anything about what is happening outside of their own country
• feeling their administration is doing things they did not say they would
• knowing the administration is not doing the things they said they would

These comments, and many more like them, made it abundantly clear that the current Iran war is the direct result of the bad choices made by voters who could have known better.

The book:

Read more about the notebook here.

My readers:

The book is aimed at folks who fit any of the three statements above. Obviously, as you’re reading this page now, you’re not one of them. But perhaps you know somebody who qualifies.

Is this aimed at US voters? Yes, it is firsthand! Primarily to those who voted red, always have, and always will, with the reason: because…

But we have such folks in the EU countries as well, and their voices are getting louder. The political climate has swung to the right in the last ten to fifteen years, and the reason is that voters are ill-informed. Notably, a democratic environment cannot allow the election of representatives who aim to abolish that very democracy, using the system itself to self-destruct.

Paul
2026-04
Sweden