This history of reading goes from the earliest examples of the clay tablets and cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to today's digital revolution. It argues that it is the demands of the reader, acting alongside the will of the writer, that is the evolutionary motor of literary genres.

Since the 1950s, some of the world's greatest libraries have dismantled much of their collections of original bound newspapers and books, replacing them with microfilmed copies. In this book the real motives behind the dismantling of our recorded heritage is examined.

The author is the sort of person who learned about sex from her father's copy of Fanny Hill , and who once found herself poring over a 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only thing in her apartment that she had not read at least twice. This title recounts her lifelong obsession with books.

Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved, but shaped, inspired and obliterated knowledge. This title takes us on a journey from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library.

Explores over 150 ways in which books can not only be stored, but made to play a part in the character of a home. Space-saving devices are illustrated for storing books in odd spaces within the home. Special double-page features appear in each chapter on topics such as designer solutions, book plates, and creating furniture out of books.

From El Escorial in Spain to the Congress in Washington, from Trinity College, Cambridge to the Abbey of Saint-Gall, this volume reveals an exceptional heritage: nearly 20 shrines to culture, entirely devoted to the presentation of knowledge, stacked with writings and shrouded in silence.