London, Jun 17: Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit, has been turned into a book 5000 pages long and 1ft 7ins thick.

Rob Matthews turned the encyclopaedia, written by volunteers, into a book containing 437-featured articles from the popular Internet resource, and it comes up to his knee when it is made to stand on the floor.

Wikipedia was launched in 2001, and is currently the most popular general reference work on the Internet.

Matthews, 22, a graphic design student from Brighton, Sussex, took two weeks to make the book as a statement about how people are now dependent on the Internet for information.

"I'm comparing the internet Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopaedia by putting it in the same format," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

"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," he added.

Matthews carefully selected 'featured' Wikipedia articles to fill his book, which can just about be carried, because these are thought to be the best the website has to offer.

"These articles are deemed the best articles in Wikipedia, and are determined so based on their quality of referencing, accuracy, neutrality, completeness and style," he said.

He admitted that the task of putting the book together had been no easy feat.

"It was difficult to produce, there was a little bit of trial and error when it came to binding, as I'd never tried to produce a book of that scale before," he said.

"Some of the tools that would normally be used can't cope with producing a book on that scale," he explained.

He said that he had had a great response to the book, which he later hopes to sell.

"The reaction's been great - it makes people laugh, which is good," he added.

ANI