What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading

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Synopsis
Reports of the death of reading are greatly exaggerated Do you worry that you've lost patience for anything longer than a tweet? If so, you're not alone. Digital-age pundits warn that as our appetite for books dwindles, so too do the virtues in which printed, bound objects once trained us: the willpower to focus on a sustained argument, the curiosity to look beyond the day's news, the willingness to be alone. The shelves of the world's great libraries, though, tell a more complicated story. Examining the wear and tear on the books that they contain, English professor Leah Price finds scant evidence that a golden age of reading ever existed. From the dawn of mass literacy to the invention of the paperback, most readers already skimmed and multitasked. Print-era doctors even forbade the very same silent absorption now recommended as a cure for electronic addictions. The evidence that books are dying proves even scarcer. In encounters with librarians, booksellers and activists who are reinventing old ways of reading, Price offers fresh hope to bibliophiles and literature lovers alike.Winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award, 2020
Copyright:
2019

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
224 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781541673908
Related ISBNs:
9780465042685
Publisher:
Basic Books
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Leah Price
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Reference, Science, Computers and Internet, Literature and Fiction, Technology, Education, Language Arts
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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