[slpsys]

"The actual print production process was quite an adventure—going right to the edge of what was possible."

I liked the book a lot, but have a hard time not seeing this as hyperbole. Yes, it's the printing industry..but it's just just diagrams and text; I don't remember anything that a few weeks of learning LaTeX couldn't accomplish?

[silvestrov]

I think that he means getting print production in sufficient high dpi without getting e.g. unwanted moire patterns or blur of details. The postscript file might be conceptually simple, but there's a lot of weird problems when mass-printing in high quality, both dpi-wise and color-wise.

edit: typo.

[nswanberg]

Note that the book itself had a build process! (which he linked to in the post)

http://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapbook/page8/#2002_build

[Erwin]

Interestingly, the entire text of the book is right there on that page: just zoom in far enough (using some kind of Flash app): http://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapbook/page8/#2002_poster

[silvestrov]

Good old FrameMaker. How I miss you.

[mikecane]

He specifically mentioned the binding process to keep it at one volume.