# If the entire internet where to be printed out in a physical book, how many pages would it be, how much ink would it take, and how physically large would the book have to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343 "2022-07-21T20:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/21 "2022-07-22T01:06:03Z")
Why’d you have to ruin it? 😉 I bet you could’ve almost printed out all the items referenced in the book on 500 pages of green bar dot matrix paper. I think I read everything there was to read around that time. I was a Gopher addict…when I wasn’t MUDding. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/22 "2022-07-22T01:09:14Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I was a Gopher addict…when I wasn’t MUDding. I miss my MUD days. I’m even nostalgic about going to the library to check my email which ran on [Pine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_(email_client)). The internet was so simple back then. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/23 "2022-07-22T01:13:47Z")
I’m guessing we are similar ages because I feel that way too. I spent so many hours in my university terminal labs on my MUD, or typing in my FORTRAN and hoping it compiled (it didn’t). I still remember the keystrokes for Pine and how to FTP an attachment. Finally getting a 14.4K modem for my home 486 opened up so much and didn’t require me to sneak beers into the campus labs now that I could dial into the university modem pool. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/24 "2022-07-22T04:02:48Z")
A zillion years ago some colleagues of mine looked at storing a copy of the WWW on a large storage system they had. Of the order of 9 gigabytes. (It may have been a Thinking Machines Data Vault, but I can’t remember.) There was some reason. As it was, it seemed viable at the time. Not for long however. They didn’t actually try, which is a great pity. Bragging rights would have been immense. The modern web is largely filled with dynamically generated content, so it isn’t clear just how big it is or what it holds. Some parts are likely infinite in size. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/25 "2022-07-22T06:49:42Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > …at least a dozen more pictures of… you know. Pussies? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/26 "2022-07-22T07:07:45Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > A zillion years ago some colleagues of mine looked at storing a copy of the WWW on a large storage system they had. I’ve seen that done! [![](https://preview.redd.it/erj99yrmtzi21.jpg?auto=webp&s=41ad138d07f4ca8d27e6f6e2be9022cff0dcc240) ](https://preview.redd.it/erj99yrmtzi21.jpg?auto=webp&s=41ad138d07f4ca8d27e6f6e2be9022cff0dcc240) ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/27 "2022-07-22T12:15:36Z")
This reminds me of one of my uncles who installed Netscape (?) on my first computer back in 1999. He added a program that allowed you to… sort of… download all of the Internet. Don’t ask me, I never tried it, but I think the idea was to allow you to read something offline without wasting your precious bucks in the times of dial-up. I vaguely remember that the icon depicted a whirlpool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343.md?page=1)