In “All the Knowledge in the World,” Simon Garfield recounts the history of the encyclopedia — a tale of ambitious effort, numerous errors and lots of paper. Read more
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Tag: Books on Books
Wonders and Rarities: The Marvelous Book that Traveled the World and Mapped the Cosmos
Biographies of Muslim books remain few and far between, though (even the Princeton series so far includes only the all-too-obvious Qur’an). So, in recounting the life of an Islamic text as its fortunes waxed and waned over centuries, Wonders and Rarities is something of a rarity itself. Read more
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Fifty Forgotten Books by R. B. Russell
Fifty “often overlooked and unloved” works of literature get their time in the sun as novelist and publisher Russell presents books that influenced him … Filled with quirky observations and personal asides, this is just right for book lovers. Read more
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‘Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World’ by Irene Vallejo
Written in a lush and immersive style and shot through with sparkling turns of phrase, this is catnip for bibliophiles and ancient history buffs. Read more
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Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
This book’s playful title announces both its subject and its tone … This may sound like dry stuff, but the narrative both sparkles with geeky wit…and shines with an infectious enthusiasm … Duncan brings his chronicle into the digital present before closing with not one, but two indexes: a machine-generated one and a human-compiled one, by Paula Clarke Bain, member of the Society of Indexers, whose wit matches the author’s and underscores his passionate appreciation of the art … Always erudite, frequently funny, and often surprising—a treat for lovers of the book qua book. Read more
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I love books about books. Here are seven of my current favorites.
Gary Goodman helped establish Stillwater, Minn., as another “book town,” one deliberately modeled on the celebrated Welsh original, Hay-on-Wye. In Goodman’s witty, self-deprecating account of impulsively buying a crummy used bookstore, gradually improving its stock, and eventually meeting notable fellow dealers here and abroad (including McMurtry and Hay’s “King” Richard Booth), his tone periodically grows elegiac. Read more
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