In the past you had to make separate columns of text created and edited individually or perhaps embed them in multiple cells of an AutoCAD Table like I mentioned quite sometime ago. Now in AutoCAD 2008 you have a true multiple column Mtext ability. You cant write a book in AutoCAD but you can add a bunch of columnar text to a drawing and adjust it and also allow the test to flow to other columns or set column breaks ((CTRL+Enter). Give it a try.
Here is a little video of me playing with the multiple columns and adjusting them with the Mtext grips. Link (WMV video 1.85MB)