I don't know why I kept reading this book. I mean, it's about treating sharpening pencils as an art that should be revered and taken seriously but somehow I was drawn into the absurdity and went with it. I generally think that artisanal-fying mundane things is a fad and I am tired of being expected to pay twice as much for something just because someone stuck the word artisanal on it. Too many people use artisanal as a way to charge more for less but for some reason I want a pencil that's been sharpened by David Rees. Who knows how seriously he takes the art of pencil sharpening, but it's obvious he knows his stuff and he likes what he's doing. If nothing else, he's really thought a lot about pencils and sharpeners and it shows in the book. A compelling read? No. Fun and quirky? Yes. And it makes you want to buy a pack of pencils and start sharpening artisanally (but never with an electric sharpener - they are the devil).