"What does the book mean?"

Translation: Hva betyr boken?

[BrettRyland]

Shouldn't "Hva mener boken?" also be accepted?

My understanding is that the concept "What is the book actually saying?" would translate as "Hva mener boken?", whereas "What is the importance of the book?" would translate as "Hva betyr boken?", both of which can be expressed in English as "What does the book mean?".

[LINHARS]

'Hva betyr boken?' is a sentence I don't understand.

'Hva handler boken om?' is a much better sentence to ask somebody about a book. 'Hva mener boken?' is asking for the book's opinion. You can ask: 'Hva mener du om boken?' or 'Hva synes du om boken?', or 'Hva betyr boken for deg?'.

[Humbur14]

what do they mean?