This article is an attempt to reframe the evolution of books into a larger evolutionary theory. A central concept of this theory is the notion of regulated representation. A regulated representation is governed by a set of production and usage rules.ur core hypothesis is that regulated representations get more regular over time. The general process of this regulating tendency is the transformation of a convention into a mechanism. The regulation usually proceeds in two consecutive steps, firstly mechanizing the representation production rules and secondly its conventional usages. Ultimately, through this process, regulated representations tend to become machines.