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You Could Look It Up: The Reference Shelf from Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia
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"Knowledge is of two kinds," said Samuel Johnson in 1775. "We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." Today we think of Wikipedia as the source of all information, the ultimate reference. Yet it is just the latest in a long line of aggregated knowledge--reference works that have shaped the way we've seen the world for centuries.
You Cou ...more
You Cou ...more
Hardcover, 453 pages
Published
February 23rd 2016
by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
(first published September 1st 2015)
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Showing 1-30
This was fairly interesting, especially as someone who read dictionaries and encyclopedias as a child and still reads on Wikipedia pretty extensively.
Probably a book only a librarian would select to read of their own free will… I love reference books and could power rank my favorites right here right now. But the book was disappointingly shallow, and mostly about dictionaries, and dictionaries have already had their own (better) pop history treatments (OED alone has two recent pop histories! two!!) so there’s not much point to dedicating 50% of the book to them. Those who wish to read about dictionaries, presumably, are already sufficiently e
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For someone like me who hardly ever reads even nonfiction to enjoy a book about reference books this much is worrisome. If you see that I am reading the reference books themselves, you should definitely look into it.
A fun, anecdotal look at reference books through the ages. One of my favorite sections is the one on delays with its tales of errant authors. For all its anecdotal nature, Lynch sure covers a lot. Everything from cartography to sex manuals.
I admit it. I'm a nerd. Who else but a nerd would read a book about the history of reference books and finish it, saying, "Gee, that was fun." Okay, it wasn't all fun. It occasionally dragged a bit, and could be shortened a bit by eliminating a few of the different types of dictionaries profiled. But it was often fascinating. The author did a good job of keeping it from lagging too much by keeping the chapters short. Each chapter focused on two similar books from roughly the same era - different
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Jun 15, 2016
The American Conservative
added it
Jack Lynch, a polymathic professor of English who specializes in 18th-century literature and the history of the English language at Rutgers, is author of such earlier works as The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park and Samuel Johnson’s Insults: A Compendium of Snubs, Sneers, Slights, and Effronteries from the Eighteenth-Century Master.
You Could Look It Up—another large, exuberant volume from a man who loves books (that includes scrolls, tab ...more
You Could Look It Up—another large, exuberant volume from a man who loves books (that includes scrolls, tab ...more
Interesting survey of reference “books” (including scrolls, tablets, codexes, Wikipedia) throughout history, starting with the Code of Hammurabi in Ancient Babylon. You probably have to be a bit of a reference book geek -- which I am -- to like this one. Even then, I found a few of the entries not terribly interesting. But overall Lynch keeps it pretty entertaining – the chapters are short and he pairs up works in discussing them, so even when you get to a topic of less interest to you, it’s ove
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OK, it is specialized topic, but done with wit and style and Oh So Readable. One of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time. Expand your life past Google and Wikipedia.
Occasionally, if we are lucky during our bibliographical exploratory journey the universe may drop into our laps an extraordinary gem. Books which blow us a little closer to the stars. I am currently reading Jack Lynch’s You Could Look it Up (2016) published by Bloomsbury Press, which explores ‘The reference shelf from ancient Babylon to Wikipedia’. It sounds rather like a infinite uninhabited desert, full of dusty relics but it’s not. The structure of Lynch’s book is attention grabbing and burs
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The reference section in my public library recently became much smaller. The library made room for additional computer terminals. Before the Internet, the way to get reliable information was through reference books (or clay tablets). As the title suggests, Lynch takes the reader back to earliest sources of reference material in the ancient world and leads us into the modern era of Wikipedia.
The book reads quickly. Lynch is a superb communicator who writes short chapters to introduce two differe ...more
The book reads quickly. Lynch is a superb communicator who writes short chapters to introduce two differe ...more
This is a fascinating book. Full of all sorts of interesting information. At times it was a bit repetitive because of how it was organised, but it is difficult to see how that could have been avoided. And it was very easy to read. It is a credit to the author's writing skills that a book about reference books made me laugh out loud in places.
Having perused many a reference book, Google and Wikipedia in the past, this was quite a fun read. We've come a long way but information, however you look for it, and however you find it, is still important and this book proves that in it's own way.
A little on the dry side, but full of useful and fascinating information.
I suppose you'd expect a librarian to really enjoy a book about influential reference books. And you'd be right. This book is pretty amazing, bordering on becoming a reference book itself.
In 25 chapters, Lynch juxtaposes two reference works that have made an impact on the recording and retrieval of some aspect of knowledge. Sometimes the books are very much alike. Sometimes, they approach a topic in very different ways. And sometimes, their creation is separated by centuries. But always, they ha ...more
In 25 chapters, Lynch juxtaposes two reference works that have made an impact on the recording and retrieval of some aspect of knowledge. Sometimes the books are very much alike. Sometimes, they approach a topic in very different ways. And sometimes, their creation is separated by centuries. But always, they ha ...more
Defining his subject, Lynch declares that he's trying to provide a sense of books that aren't meant to be read cover-to-cover, but instead to be consulted for specific snippets of text. Within that remit, there's a lot of ground to cover, from the usual dictionaries and encyclopedias to tables of logarithms, law codes and indices of prohibited books, to concordances of Shakespeare. The author does in the introduction list several categories he wasn't able to find room for, too, though he does ma
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Who can resist a tome that begins with Hammurabi’s code (published c. 1754 B.C.; organization: introduction, property, persons; weight: four tons) and ends with Schott’s Original Miscellany (published: 2002; organization: “God only knows”; weight: 8 oz.)? You Can Look It Up has heft but is delightfully organized. Twenty-five chapters each take a pair of works with similar goals and compare them. Along with the expected dictionaries, lexicons and encyclopedias, the reader meets a collection of lo
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A surprisingly entertaining and engaging sampling of reference books for "Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia".
Lynch describes the actual books but he also writes about the historical context in which they were created, the personalities of the creators and the political, practical and financial realities that were part of the process.
His "half chapters" are entertaining essays on a whole variety of topics related to the business of making these "treasure houses" of knowledge from whether "index learn ...more
Lynch describes the actual books but he also writes about the historical context in which they were created, the personalities of the creators and the political, practical and financial realities that were part of the process.
His "half chapters" are entertaining essays on a whole variety of topics related to the business of making these "treasure houses" of knowledge from whether "index learn ...more
I recall when the reference section of the library was one of the main reasons for visiting. Because the internet has made much of the reference library obsolete, this book feels like a bit of a eulogy. Nevertheless, Jack Lynch has packed this book with tons of interesting information, stories about unusual characters (obsessive catalogers can be an eccentric lot), and some stretches of tedium as he goes over some of the intricacies of lexicography.
This book about reference books also takes on t ...more
This book about reference books also takes on t ...more
Bear with me here; it sounds like a book that only librarians could like. And in some ways, that is true. But if you ever wonder about something (and who doesn't?), you probably turn to a reference source of some kind to answer your question. Lynch does a competent job of surveying a wide variety of such tools, but his book turns into more of a list and less of an analysis of reference books than I would have liked. Nonetheless, still a good read. The format is interesting: he discusses a topic
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A splendid and informative roster of 50 of the most important reference books of Western Civilization (the stupendous accomplishments of Chinese and Japanese encyclopedists are mentioned in passing). I don't hold it against the author that Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique is consigned to a few paragraphs in the chapter on Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie as it pleases me to find it mentioned at all.
In short, a pleasant read that sent me scrambling on more than one occasio ...more
In short, a pleasant read that sent me scrambling on more than one occasio ...more
Nov 02, 2016
Jeff Anderson
added it
I loved this book. It is an overview of reference books, or reference works in some cases. It starts with the code of Hammurabi(more a work than a book) and goes to the present day and Wikipedia. Along the way he talks about an assortment of dictionaries, encyclopedias and concordances. It is a true delight for anyone who loves reference works in the first place. I adore cozying up with a good bibliography on a cold night. If you like reference books you will love this. Lynch also explores vario
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Not a book for everyone, but certainly a book for anyone who likes to learn a little about a lot, and who loves words and history. I picked it up on a whim off the "New Aquisitions" shelf at the library and kept it past the last renewal date in order to finish it. Well worth the fines incurred! I'm thinking I should have a few "dictionaries" on my reading list and I'm awed by the lengths people have gone to to codify and store information they felt important. Short chapters, a wide variety of su
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A marvelous overview of Reference works dating from the earliest writings to Wikipedia. Lynch rhapsodizes in an elegiac ecstatic infectious way, with ten page chapters about two Reference "books" often twined by the thinnest of threads; followed by a short 2-4 page chapter about Referential ephemera
I cannot praise this too highly. A great book for anyone interested in the history of Informational Literature. Its bibliography alone will give you many new books you must read that you never knew ex ...more
I cannot praise this too highly. A great book for anyone interested in the history of Informational Literature. Its bibliography alone will give you many new books you must read that you never knew ex ...more
It took a little while to settle into this book, but once I did, it was a rare delight. Most of the vignettes don't obviously relate directly to one another--but after you read for a while you begin to recognize themes and patterns. Above all, perhaps, the wonderful madness that seems inseparable from any attempt to create e.g. an encyclopedia from scratch.
If you think there is any chance that a survey of card catalogs, dictionaries, and every other sort of reference book (of which there are man ...more
If you think there is any chance that a survey of card catalogs, dictionaries, and every other sort of reference book (of which there are man ...more
Interesting and well-considered, but rather dry. Ideally for those who really love reference books. Not really for people looking for a page-turner about the accumulation of human knowledge over the centuries. Some interesting hypotheses that might have given the book more life if they were explored to a greater extent.
I did not expect to laugh out loud when reading a book about reference books, but I did-- frequently! As a librarian of course I knew many of the books that are presented here, but there are lots of surprises throughout. This is a gem-- clever, fun, wide-ranging and thoughtful.
Aug 06, 2016
Angela Penrose
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
nf-books-reference
If you're a reference/research geek, you need to read this book. This is a great overview of the history of reference books, looking at examples of different types of references produced by different cultures, with stories about the people who compiled references and how and why. A great read.
While it wasn't quite what I expected, I received a great deal of enjoyment from many of the entries, many of which were very short. I didn't read all of them, but what I did read was fun and informative. It's more of a reference book in itself than something one reads from cover to cover.
Apr 15, 2016
Mills College Library
added it
028.709 L9874 2016
A fascinating, engaging and informative look at reference books from the ancient to the contemporary.
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“Nicholson Baker, a man who knows the joys of obsessive research, has already started the division. “Let me tell you,” he says, “I remember the old days, the antegoogluvian era. It was O.K.—it wasn’t horrible by any means. There were cordless telephones, and people wore comfortable sweaters… . But the haul was haphazard, and it came in slow.”
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