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The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More Than Words
We love books. We take them to bed with us. They weigh down our suitcases when we go on holiday. We display them on our bookshelves or store them in our attics. We give them as gifts. We write our names in them. We take them for granted. And all the time, our books are leading a double life.
The Secret Life of Books is about everything that isn’t just the words. It’s about how books transform us as individuals. It’s about how books – and readers – have evolved over time. And it’s about why, even with the arrival of other media, books still have the power to change our lives.
In this illuminating account, Tom Mole looks at everything from binding innovations to binding errors, to books defaced by lovers, to those imprisoning professors in their offices, to books in art, to burned books, to the books that create nations, to those we’ll leave behind.
It will change how you think about books.
A real treasure trove for book lovers’ - Alexander McCall Smith
‘Every sentence is utterly captivating . . . probably the most compulsive text ever penned about what it means to handle and possess a book’ - Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts
‘Wonderfully insightful’ - Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading
‘Tom Mole’s enthusiasm for books is infectious. If you also love books . . . you’ll want to discover The Secret Life of Books’ - Sam Jordison, author of Literary London
‘A treat for bibliophiles everywhere’ - Gavin Francis, author of Shapeshifters
‘A treasure-chest, filled with bookish wonders’ - Adam Roberts, BSFA award-winning author of Jack Glass
‘I suspect I’ll never look at a book the same way again’ - Jon Courtenay Grimwood, author of Stamping Butterflies
The Secret Life of Books is about everything that isn’t just the words. It’s about how books transform us as individuals. It’s about how books – and readers – have evolved over time. And it’s about why, even with the arrival of other media, books still have the power to change our lives.
In this illuminating account, Tom Mole looks at everything from binding innovations to binding errors, to books defaced by lovers, to those imprisoning professors in their offices, to books in art, to burned books, to the books that create nations, to those we’ll leave behind.
It will change how you think about books.
A real treasure trove for book lovers’ - Alexander McCall Smith
‘Every sentence is utterly captivating . . . probably the most compulsive text ever penned about what it means to handle and possess a book’ - Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts
‘Wonderfully insightful’ - Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading
‘Tom Mole’s enthusiasm for books is infectious. If you also love books . . . you’ll want to discover The Secret Life of Books’ - Sam Jordison, author of Literary London
‘A treat for bibliophiles everywhere’ - Gavin Francis, author of Shapeshifters
‘A treasure-chest, filled with bookish wonders’ - Adam Roberts, BSFA award-winning author of Jack Glass
‘I suspect I’ll never look at a book the same way again’ - Jon Courtenay Grimwood, author of Stamping Butterflies
229 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2019
67 people are currently reading
1014 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
November 27, 2019
I am a book addict. There I have said it. They seem to consume my life at the moment. I have read more than ever this year, so much so that I am going to finish my Good Reads Challenge a month early this year. I spend lots of time in bookshops and charity shops looking for new things to read and the bargains. I have 12 bookcases around the home, all full to overflowing and ever-increasing tsundoku (piles of books) that my long-suffering wife is now commenting about…
Like Tom, I always look at the books when I visit someone’s home, even if I have been there many times before. Your library is a rare glimpse into your very soul. Shockingly, I have even been to houses where there are no books. NO BOOKS! (Yes this is a real thing). They feel empty and barren. There is much more to a physical book than thin slices of a tree with random marks on. I don’t know quite what it is about books that makes them so appealing. Perhaps it is the heft that you get from a quality hardback, or the detail that goes into binding them or for the price of a couple of coffees you can have an entertaining few hours venturing into another world that someone has created or that you can learn something about our amazing world and the people in it. For me, though I find their presence in my home reassuring, that I can access knowledge and experiences from other people by taking a book off the shelf.
Tom Mole is another fellow obsessive book collector. (It’s not hoarding if it’s books) He works at the University of Edinburgh and is Professor of English Literature and Book History, so he is perfectly placed to write this book about books. Beginning with clay tablets and papyrus he takes us all the way through the scrolls to the codex format that we see all around us today. You will learn about binding errors, how we can become utterly absorbed in the magic that is reading, how some people manage to read their books and leave them utterly pristine and others who pass them on (or horror of horrors back) most foxed and often slightly badgered too. There is a certain amount of pleasure in owning a signed book, even more so if it is dedicated.
Some people develop relationships with their copies of favourite books, scribbling notes, folding the corners of the pages down, leaving splatters from cooking and adding their own unique and distinctive embellishments. There is a chapter on how books can affect people’s lives and two on the future direction and technology of books? Is it kindles? Or apps on a phone? The physical object is resilient to the ravages of time there are books around that are hundreds of years old that can still be read, whereas if you have a novel on a 5 1/4″ floppy disk then you will be extremely lucky if you can ever read that again.
It is a well-researched book stuffed full of interesting anecdotes and facts and Mole has done a great job in not making this feel like a slightly stuffy academic paper. The chapters are short and can be dipped into in no particular order and I liked the brief interludes. If you have the remotest interest in reading or books then I can highly recommend this book. Great stuff.
Like Tom, I always look at the books when I visit someone’s home, even if I have been there many times before. Your library is a rare glimpse into your very soul. Shockingly, I have even been to houses where there are no books. NO BOOKS! (Yes this is a real thing). They feel empty and barren. There is much more to a physical book than thin slices of a tree with random marks on. I don’t know quite what it is about books that makes them so appealing. Perhaps it is the heft that you get from a quality hardback, or the detail that goes into binding them or for the price of a couple of coffees you can have an entertaining few hours venturing into another world that someone has created or that you can learn something about our amazing world and the people in it. For me, though I find their presence in my home reassuring, that I can access knowledge and experiences from other people by taking a book off the shelf.
Tom Mole is another fellow obsessive book collector. (It’s not hoarding if it’s books) He works at the University of Edinburgh and is Professor of English Literature and Book History, so he is perfectly placed to write this book about books. Beginning with clay tablets and papyrus he takes us all the way through the scrolls to the codex format that we see all around us today. You will learn about binding errors, how we can become utterly absorbed in the magic that is reading, how some people manage to read their books and leave them utterly pristine and others who pass them on (or horror of horrors back) most foxed and often slightly badgered too. There is a certain amount of pleasure in owning a signed book, even more so if it is dedicated.
Some people develop relationships with their copies of favourite books, scribbling notes, folding the corners of the pages down, leaving splatters from cooking and adding their own unique and distinctive embellishments. There is a chapter on how books can affect people’s lives and two on the future direction and technology of books? Is it kindles? Or apps on a phone? The physical object is resilient to the ravages of time there are books around that are hundreds of years old that can still be read, whereas if you have a novel on a 5 1/4″ floppy disk then you will be extremely lucky if you can ever read that again.
It is a well-researched book stuffed full of interesting anecdotes and facts and Mole has done a great job in not making this feel like a slightly stuffy academic paper. The chapters are short and can be dipped into in no particular order and I liked the brief interludes. If you have the remotest interest in reading or books then I can highly recommend this book. Great stuff.
February 7, 2021
If you're like me, a book addict who loves books about books, this is a real treat. Not about the books you should read, or summaries of the author's favorite books, but about the object of the book itself. It's "thingness" as the author puts it. The history, starting with papyrus scrolls. The future of ereaders and whatever is beyond them. Why we love them, keep them, display them, inscribe them. Publishers, collectors, readers, authors, and all the little factual tidbits that go along with all those things to keep it interesting. A really enjoyable read for me.
September 17, 2019
If you’re like me and author Tom Mole, the first thing you do in any new acquaintance’s house is to scrutinize their bookshelves, whether openly or surreptitiously. You can learn all kinds of surprising things about what someone is interested in, and holds dear, from the books on display. (And if they don’t have any books around, should you really be friends?)
Mole runs the Centre for the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh, where he is a professor of English Literature and Book History. His specialist discipline and this book’s subtitle – “Why They Mean More than Words” – are clues that here he’s concerned with books more as physical and cultural objects than as containers of knowledge and stories: “reading them is only one of the things we do with books, and not always the most significant. For a book to signal something about you, you don’t necessarily need to have read it.”
From the papyrus scroll to the early codex, from a leather-bound first edition to a mass-market paperback, and from the Kindle to the smartphone reading app, Mole asks how what we think of as a “book” has changed and what our different ways of accessing and possessing books say about us. He examines the book as a basis of personal identity and relationships with other people. His learned and digressive history of the book contains many pleasing pieces of trivia about authors, libraries and bookshops, making it a perfect gift for bibliophiles. I also enjoyed the three “interludes,” in which he explores three paintings that feature books.
There are a lot of talking points here for book lovers. Here are a few:
I would particularly recommend this to readers who have enjoyed Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris, Alberto Manguel’s various books on libraries, and Tim Parks’s Where I’m Reading From.
A personal note: I was delighted to come across a mention of one of the visiting professors on my Master’s course in Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds, Matthew Rubery. In the autumn term of 2005, he taught one of my seminars, “The Reading Revolution in the Victorian Period,” which had a Book History slant and included topics like serial publication, anonymity and the rise of the media. A few years ago Rubery published an academic study of audiobooks, The Untold Story of the Talking Book, which Mole draws on for his discussion.
Two more favorite passages:
“when I’m reading, I’m not just spending time with a book, but investing time in cultivating a more learned version of myself.”
“A library is an argument. An argument about who’s in and who’s out, about what kinds of things belong together, about what’s more important and what’s less so. The books that we choose to keep, the ones that we display most prominently, and the ones that we shelve together make an implicit claim about what we value and how we perceive the world.”
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Mole runs the Centre for the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh, where he is a professor of English Literature and Book History. His specialist discipline and this book’s subtitle – “Why They Mean More than Words” – are clues that here he’s concerned with books more as physical and cultural objects than as containers of knowledge and stories: “reading them is only one of the things we do with books, and not always the most significant. For a book to signal something about you, you don’t necessarily need to have read it.”
From the papyrus scroll to the early codex, from a leather-bound first edition to a mass-market paperback, and from the Kindle to the smartphone reading app, Mole asks how what we think of as a “book” has changed and what our different ways of accessing and possessing books say about us. He examines the book as a basis of personal identity and relationships with other people. His learned and digressive history of the book contains many pleasing pieces of trivia about authors, libraries and bookshops, making it a perfect gift for bibliophiles. I also enjoyed the three “interludes,” in which he explores three paintings that feature books.
There are a lot of talking points here for book lovers. Here are a few:
Are you a true collector, or merely an “accumulator” of books? (Mole is the latter, as am I. “I have a few modest antiquarian volumes, but most of my books are paperbacks … I was the first in my immediate family to go to university, and I suspect the books on my shelves reassure me that I really have learned something along the way.”)
In Anne Fadiman’s scheme, are you a “courtly” or a “carnal” reader? The former keeps a book pristine, while the latter has no qualms about cracking spines or dog-earing pages. (I’m a courtly reader, with the exception that I correct all errors in pencil.)
Is a book a commercial product or a creative artifact? (“This is why authors quite often cross out the printed version of their name when they sign. Their action negates the book’s existence as a product of industry or commerce and reclaims it as the product of their own artistic effort.”)
How is the experience of reading an e-book, or listening to an audiobook, different from reading a print book? (There is evidence that we remember less when we read on a screen, because we don’t have the physical cues of a book in our hand, plus “most people could in theory fit a lifetime’s reading on a single e-reader.”)
I would particularly recommend this to readers who have enjoyed Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris, Alberto Manguel’s various books on libraries, and Tim Parks’s Where I’m Reading From.
A personal note: I was delighted to come across a mention of one of the visiting professors on my Master’s course in Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds, Matthew Rubery. In the autumn term of 2005, he taught one of my seminars, “The Reading Revolution in the Victorian Period,” which had a Book History slant and included topics like serial publication, anonymity and the rise of the media. A few years ago Rubery published an academic study of audiobooks, The Untold Story of the Talking Book, which Mole draws on for his discussion.
Two more favorite passages:
“when I’m reading, I’m not just spending time with a book, but investing time in cultivating a more learned version of myself.”
“A library is an argument. An argument about who’s in and who’s out, about what kinds of things belong together, about what’s more important and what’s less so. The books that we choose to keep, the ones that we display most prominently, and the ones that we shelve together make an implicit claim about what we value and how we perceive the world.”
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Want to read
August 12, 2020The author also has a bookish blog, about which I will say "do not click unless the next hour of your life is uncommitted, or committed to boring work BS".
August 15, 2024
Kniha Toma Moleho, ktorý ako priznáva nevyrástol v knihopodnetnom prostredí, napriek tomu sa stal bibliofilom, profesorom literatúry a popularizátorom čítania v akejkoľvek jeho podobe.
Jeho text je jasný, zaujímavý a čitateľ v ňom nájde veľa myšlienok, ktoré ho či už pri čítaní, obdive ku knihám ako predmetom, alebo pri nákupe, zbieraní a uskladnení kníh v jeho súkromnej knižnici často napadnú.
V knihe som si vyznačila veľa zaujímavých citátov a pasáží, ku ktorým sa môžem aj vo svojej profesii a pri pochopení významu kníh ako predmetov, umeleckých objektov, schránok na slová a myšlienky a pri hľadaní zmyslu mojej práce rada vracať.
Na knihy sa pozerá ako na predmety, ktoré slúžia aj ako mnemotechnické pomôcky, ktoré nám svojim príťažlivým vizuálnym spracovaním, grafikou, ilustráciou a fontom písme pomáhajú prečítaný text si lepšie fixovať v pamäti, čo nie je príznačné iba pre detský vek.
Autor porovnáva čítanie elektronických a tlačených kníh, či počúvanie audiokníh. Nerobí žiadne uzávery, ale konštatuje jasné fakty, ktoré hovoria a budú ešte dlho hovoriť v prospech tlačenej knihy. Zároveň v knihe nájdeme aj kapitolu, kde výskum dokazuje, že ako čitatelia rezignujeme na román, novelu, poviedku, skrátka na fiktívny naratív a zamýšľa sa v krátkosti prečo tomu tak je.
" Stretnutie s knihou je vždy stretnutím s fyzickým predmetom, ktorý je zaťažený významami". str. 205.
Jeho text je jasný, zaujímavý a čitateľ v ňom nájde veľa myšlienok, ktoré ho či už pri čítaní, obdive ku knihám ako predmetom, alebo pri nákupe, zbieraní a uskladnení kníh v jeho súkromnej knižnici často napadnú.
V knihe som si vyznačila veľa zaujímavých citátov a pasáží, ku ktorým sa môžem aj vo svojej profesii a pri pochopení významu kníh ako predmetov, umeleckých objektov, schránok na slová a myšlienky a pri hľadaní zmyslu mojej práce rada vracať.
Na knihy sa pozerá ako na predmety, ktoré slúžia aj ako mnemotechnické pomôcky, ktoré nám svojim príťažlivým vizuálnym spracovaním, grafikou, ilustráciou a fontom písme pomáhajú prečítaný text si lepšie fixovať v pamäti, čo nie je príznačné iba pre detský vek.
Autor porovnáva čítanie elektronických a tlačených kníh, či počúvanie audiokníh. Nerobí žiadne uzávery, ale konštatuje jasné fakty, ktoré hovoria a budú ešte dlho hovoriť v prospech tlačenej knihy. Zároveň v knihe nájdeme aj kapitolu, kde výskum dokazuje, že ako čitatelia rezignujeme na román, novelu, poviedku, skrátka na fiktívny naratív a zamýšľa sa v krátkosti prečo tomu tak je.
" Stretnutie s knihou je vždy stretnutím s fyzickým predmetom, ktorý je zaťažený významami". str. 205.
July 3, 2022
I found this book enjoyable overall, and dry in parts. Here, I will reveal what I took away from my reading. "Your books reveal who you are. To display them where other people can see them is to exhibit a particular version of yourself." What is not on your bookshelf might equally be revealing!
One thing I learned and hadn't really though much about before was that "Remembering things and keeping track of things were some of the first uses for books and writing."
There is a pithy comment that does the rounds on social media from time to time, "There's no app to replace your lap - read with your kids." For the lucky among us, we were introduced to books as a child. "The warmth, the physical closeness, the drowsy pleasure of being read to at bedtime"creates wonderful early memories that last a lifetime and encode a love of reading. Children will form an attachment to certain stories and ask for them to be read over and over again, which may be trying to parents, however these beloved stories can provide a sense of familiarity and comfort beyond measure.
As gifts, books can provide hours of pleasure, however, choose wisely, as "if you choose a title that leaves the recipient cold, you risk revealing how little you understand their tastes." Know your reader!
Books can be meaningful personal legacies we leave behind for family and friends, especially if they shared our love of a certain book.
"Libraries change the way we read." Being in the presence of so many books reminds us that we can only read so many during our lifetime and it will be necessary to choose some and not others.
We think of libraries as quiet spaces, however "they actually have a long history of sociability. In the early nineteenth century, when private 'circulating' libraries began to open up in resort towns such as Bath, they became popular places to meet people, catch up on gossip and be seen."
Libraries contain books in various languages and from diverse cultures, which reflect "a cosmopolitan openness to other people and their ideas." The destruction of books as a way to deny a culture the right to exist is horrifying. "Celebrating books, by contrast can be a way of fortifying and defending a cultural identity."
One thing I learned and hadn't really though much about before was that "Remembering things and keeping track of things were some of the first uses for books and writing."
There is a pithy comment that does the rounds on social media from time to time, "There's no app to replace your lap - read with your kids." For the lucky among us, we were introduced to books as a child. "The warmth, the physical closeness, the drowsy pleasure of being read to at bedtime"creates wonderful early memories that last a lifetime and encode a love of reading. Children will form an attachment to certain stories and ask for them to be read over and over again, which may be trying to parents, however these beloved stories can provide a sense of familiarity and comfort beyond measure.
As gifts, books can provide hours of pleasure, however, choose wisely, as "if you choose a title that leaves the recipient cold, you risk revealing how little you understand their tastes." Know your reader!
Books can be meaningful personal legacies we leave behind for family and friends, especially if they shared our love of a certain book.
"Libraries change the way we read." Being in the presence of so many books reminds us that we can only read so many during our lifetime and it will be necessary to choose some and not others.
We think of libraries as quiet spaces, however "they actually have a long history of sociability. In the early nineteenth century, when private 'circulating' libraries began to open up in resort towns such as Bath, they became popular places to meet people, catch up on gossip and be seen."
Libraries contain books in various languages and from diverse cultures, which reflect "a cosmopolitan openness to other people and their ideas." The destruction of books as a way to deny a culture the right to exist is horrifying. "Celebrating books, by contrast can be a way of fortifying and defending a cultural identity."
May 11, 2020
Fair, some of it was interesting, but a great deal was just explaining that we have books in our house, on our shelves and they are important. I think most people who read a lot think that anyway and those who don't you wont convince otherwise. More stories about the actual importance of books in a cultural sense would have been good. Not a bad read, but just not an outstanding one.
October 22, 2020
I am drawn to books about books, and Tom Mole's The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More Than Words really caught my eye. It is marketed as 'the season's ultimate gift for bibliophiles', and certainly holds a lot of appeal for the more bookish members on this year's Christmas list.
The Secret Life of Books is about 'everything beyond the words on a page', and focuses on the book as a physical entity. Mole has explored 'how books feel and smell, books defaced by lovers and books in art to burned books and books that create nations'. He is concerned with how books and printing processes have evolved over time, along with their readers, and 'about how books still have the power to change our lives.'
This book, written by the head of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for the History of the Book, is described as a 'stylish and thought-provoking exploration of the book as an object.' Mole confesses that he is 'not all that interested in books as things to read. Instead, I want to talk about all the other things that we do to books - and that books do to us.' They are, he goes on to say, 'part of how we understand ourselves. They shape our identities, even before we can read them.'
First published in 2019, The Secret Life of Books is filled with reminiscences of Mole's own reading life, as well as anecdotes about books. It opens, for instance, with one of Mole's university professors, whose books were rapidly taking over his room: 'Every time I visited the professor's office, it seemed a little harder than before to navigate a route across the room on the decreasing area of visible carpet... when I opened the door there was no professor to be seen - the room was full of books, but apparently empty of its occupant. For a moment, I would think perhaps the professor had been crushed under a toppling pile of hardbacks. Then his head would appear from behind a ziggurat of volumes on a bewildering variety of topics.'
Mole certainly presents a lot of interesting ideas about books within the pages of his own. These have been largely collected in vignette form, and gathered together. He writes that 'to the careful observer, the book can be excavated like an archaeological dig, revealing layer upon layer of information about its previous users from the material traces they left behind them.' He goes on to discuss holy books, book signings, book clubs, and bibliomancy - the rather unpredictable practice of using a randomly chosen page in a book to predict the future - and gives nods to many authors.
I was particularly taken with the musings he makes over the ownership of books, and what a privilege it is to be able to build a personal library. He writes: 'Buying books, reading them, organising them and referring back to them - all these things seem to be distinct and different kinds of pleasure.'
I did find The Secret Life of Books became rather repetitive at times, but perhaps this is an inevitability given the subject matter. I enjoyed all of the bookish facts which the volume was peppered with, and found that the general approach took an interesting angle, but on the whole, it failed to captivate me entirely. The prose is consistent, as is the thematic structure, but on some level it did not quite work for me as a reader.
I will end my review with this rather prescient quote from The Secret Life of Books, concerning inheritance. Mole muses, as, I imagine, do many readers in possession of their own libraries: 'What will become of my books? Not the ones I write, but the ones I own. No doubt, I have too many, and there will have to be some winnowing over the years ahead as I inevitably acquire more. But I'm equally certain that I'll never get rid of all my books, and that when I do I'll still own some of them. The paperbacks will probably be falling apart by then, but some of the hardbacks will easily survive me by many years. Books endure. And so - whether sold, gifted, donated or bequeathed - my books will find their ways to other owners and readers.'
The Secret Life of Books is about 'everything beyond the words on a page', and focuses on the book as a physical entity. Mole has explored 'how books feel and smell, books defaced by lovers and books in art to burned books and books that create nations'. He is concerned with how books and printing processes have evolved over time, along with their readers, and 'about how books still have the power to change our lives.'
This book, written by the head of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for the History of the Book, is described as a 'stylish and thought-provoking exploration of the book as an object.' Mole confesses that he is 'not all that interested in books as things to read. Instead, I want to talk about all the other things that we do to books - and that books do to us.' They are, he goes on to say, 'part of how we understand ourselves. They shape our identities, even before we can read them.'
First published in 2019, The Secret Life of Books is filled with reminiscences of Mole's own reading life, as well as anecdotes about books. It opens, for instance, with one of Mole's university professors, whose books were rapidly taking over his room: 'Every time I visited the professor's office, it seemed a little harder than before to navigate a route across the room on the decreasing area of visible carpet... when I opened the door there was no professor to be seen - the room was full of books, but apparently empty of its occupant. For a moment, I would think perhaps the professor had been crushed under a toppling pile of hardbacks. Then his head would appear from behind a ziggurat of volumes on a bewildering variety of topics.'
Mole certainly presents a lot of interesting ideas about books within the pages of his own. These have been largely collected in vignette form, and gathered together. He writes that 'to the careful observer, the book can be excavated like an archaeological dig, revealing layer upon layer of information about its previous users from the material traces they left behind them.' He goes on to discuss holy books, book signings, book clubs, and bibliomancy - the rather unpredictable practice of using a randomly chosen page in a book to predict the future - and gives nods to many authors.
I was particularly taken with the musings he makes over the ownership of books, and what a privilege it is to be able to build a personal library. He writes: 'Buying books, reading them, organising them and referring back to them - all these things seem to be distinct and different kinds of pleasure.'
I did find The Secret Life of Books became rather repetitive at times, but perhaps this is an inevitability given the subject matter. I enjoyed all of the bookish facts which the volume was peppered with, and found that the general approach took an interesting angle, but on the whole, it failed to captivate me entirely. The prose is consistent, as is the thematic structure, but on some level it did not quite work for me as a reader.
I will end my review with this rather prescient quote from The Secret Life of Books, concerning inheritance. Mole muses, as, I imagine, do many readers in possession of their own libraries: 'What will become of my books? Not the ones I write, but the ones I own. No doubt, I have too many, and there will have to be some winnowing over the years ahead as I inevitably acquire more. But I'm equally certain that I'll never get rid of all my books, and that when I do I'll still own some of them. The paperbacks will probably be falling apart by then, but some of the hardbacks will easily survive me by many years. Books endure. And so - whether sold, gifted, donated or bequeathed - my books will find their ways to other owners and readers.'
June 13, 2021
Witty and fascinating about the history of books and our relationship with them, both as an idea and an object.
November 27, 2019
Lovely read with some cool facts about the history of books. My one quibble was that the writing was kind of repetitive... like I was being bashed over the head with the thesis statement (I GET IT, this is about books as things). It distracted from the cool historical tidbits. But overall super enjoyable (and soothing) - I'm a big lover of books as physical objects as well as carriers of information, so this was right up my alley :-)
November 3, 2019
I loved this.. it talked about one of the deepest and oldest things of my life: my relationship with books and often the physical book, the specific edition and copy and showed me in ways I did not know how this love forms all of us. Books have brought me whole worlds. And I bought it in one of my favorite bookshops in the world, Daunt's in London.
November 16, 2020
‘For readers, books are familiar objects.’
Indeed, they are. I write this in a room surrounded by books. Many of my earliest memories are about books: as possessions, as paths to escape, and routes to knowledge. Some books are mere acquaintances while others become lifelong friends.
But, as Mr Mole writes, books are not static. Their form has changed, and function often evolves through a lifetime.
I enjoyed reading about the history of books, about the different forms they take. I thought about the joy I have when I pick up a new book, about that moment when the book itself is just a potential adventure or experience. What will happen once I open the cover?
I have physical books and electronic books. The electronic books are great travelling companions, while the physical books are much more comfortable friends. I have some old books that belonged to my grandmother over a hundred years ago, and multiple copies of a few very special books.
This book contains both memories and promises.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Indeed, they are. I write this in a room surrounded by books. Many of my earliest memories are about books: as possessions, as paths to escape, and routes to knowledge. Some books are mere acquaintances while others become lifelong friends.
But, as Mr Mole writes, books are not static. Their form has changed, and function often evolves through a lifetime.
I enjoyed reading about the history of books, about the different forms they take. I thought about the joy I have when I pick up a new book, about that moment when the book itself is just a potential adventure or experience. What will happen once I open the cover?
I have physical books and electronic books. The electronic books are great travelling companions, while the physical books are much more comfortable friends. I have some old books that belonged to my grandmother over a hundred years ago, and multiple copies of a few very special books.
This book contains both memories and promises.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 7, 2020
Tom Mole's writing reminded me Albeto Manguel's in History of Reading and The Library at Night. It's a pleasant reading arguing that books are more than carriers of human knowledge, they are guardians of memory, shapers of personal identity, builders of relationships, our fight against mortality and oblivion, objects that gathered together reveal an argument on the understanding of reality... If you are interested in all these aspects, The Secter Life of Books explains it with much of respect and love for books.
July 25, 2024
"Even if we can't recall most of what we've read, the presence of the books serves as an aide-memoire, a reassuring sign that not everything we've read is lost. Books on the shelves are sandbags stacked against the floodwaters of forgetting."
June 3, 2023
Absolutely loved this book! All the hows, whys, and more about our love for books.
March 15, 2020
No one is looking at this book who isn't going to like it.
That said, he does manage to get a lot out of the topic and provide some interesting takes on the physicality and history of books.
I was definitely more aware of the next book I held. It felt good in my hand.
That said, he does manage to get a lot out of the topic and provide some interesting takes on the physicality and history of books.
I was definitely more aware of the next book I held. It felt good in my hand.
June 18, 2023
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read and has an interest in the history of books as objects. It was hard for me to pace myself, as I was so fascinated by this book’s content that I wanted to read all of the information in one go. The structure of this book rendered it extremely engaging, as the author dedicates each chapter (minus the interludes) to the book’s relationship to something external (i.e. book/self, book/world, book/technology, etc).
My only complaint is that the author is inconsistent in his usage of the words “who“ and “whom.”
My only complaint is that the author is inconsistent in his usage of the words “who“ and “whom.”
April 27, 2022
If you love books in general, then you’ll probably enjoy this one in particular. In The Secret Life of Books, Tom Mole points out that books are usually things we simply see through; they are windows to the stories they contain. Then he takes a step back to consider them as objects. He explores our relationship with books, the ways we use them and display them, the little world that we tend to build around them. He also explores the importance of libraries, the development of ereaders and the future of books.
I am a bibliophile and Mole a kindred spirit. In fact, as I read this book I recognized much of what he has to say from one of my novels, The Unpublishables, where I spend quite a lot of space exploring my own thoughts and feelings about books. Mole writes, “Bring out a novel on the bus or in a café and it’s a clear sign that you don’t want other people to talk to you.” Chapter 3 of The Unpublishables takes that idea and goes on for several pages with it. He also writes about how books connect people and solidify their relationships, and, well, that’s my novel in a nutshell.
But he also covers things that I knew nothing about. For example, he discusses the practice of “extra-illustrating”. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century people used to get books, remove the pages from the binding, and then add their own collections of engravings to them as illustrations before binding them again. A single book could become many volumes in this way.
Mole discusses libraries and reading groups, and the ways they have brought readers together historically. In college my friends and I formed a book club, but since forming book clubs seemed like an activity for middle aged ladies, we mocked ourselves by calling ourselves “The Pompous Bastards” and wearing sweater vests to all our meetings. My wife is currently in three different book clubs, which sounds like a nightmare to me because she only has time to read books foisted on her by these clubs. (I ruled The Pompous Bastards with an iron fist, and made sure we always read what I wanted to.)
This past Christmas I decided that since the only thing in the world that I enjoy purchasing is books, I would selfishly get everyone on my list books as presents. (Well, I guess I also like buying skis, but there are limits to my generosity.) Mole thinks books are good gifts, but warns that “If you choose a title that leaves the recipient cold, you risk revealing how little you understand their tastes.” Boy is he right there. A few years ago a collection of ghost stories I co wrote, Jersey Ghost Stories, was published. This was the first time I’d ever had a book published (not counting self-publishing) and I was quite proud of myself as I gave a copy to my wife. Her bookmark penetrated about twenty pages into the book on that first day, and then never moved again. Ouch. In retrospect, I should have talked her book club into reading it. When they meet at my house I always try to push books I like on them. At my urging they have read Persepolis, The Sisters (a group biography of the Mitford Sisters), and a Massie’s Catherine the Great. They liked the first two so I’m batting .666 and might have spent some of that goodwill in tricking them into reading my book.
If this review has been long and rambling, it is only because, like Tom Mole, I enjoy talking about books. I only wish I could do it as well or as knowledgeably as he does. Mole is an academic who knows his subject, but he does not, thankfully, write like an academic. His style is conversational and warm. Reading The Secret Life of Books is like having a long conversation about books with a friend who knows what he is talking about. This book is a pleasure to read.
I am a bibliophile and Mole a kindred spirit. In fact, as I read this book I recognized much of what he has to say from one of my novels, The Unpublishables, where I spend quite a lot of space exploring my own thoughts and feelings about books. Mole writes, “Bring out a novel on the bus or in a café and it’s a clear sign that you don’t want other people to talk to you.” Chapter 3 of The Unpublishables takes that idea and goes on for several pages with it. He also writes about how books connect people and solidify their relationships, and, well, that’s my novel in a nutshell.
But he also covers things that I knew nothing about. For example, he discusses the practice of “extra-illustrating”. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century people used to get books, remove the pages from the binding, and then add their own collections of engravings to them as illustrations before binding them again. A single book could become many volumes in this way.
Mole discusses libraries and reading groups, and the ways they have brought readers together historically. In college my friends and I formed a book club, but since forming book clubs seemed like an activity for middle aged ladies, we mocked ourselves by calling ourselves “The Pompous Bastards” and wearing sweater vests to all our meetings. My wife is currently in three different book clubs, which sounds like a nightmare to me because she only has time to read books foisted on her by these clubs. (I ruled The Pompous Bastards with an iron fist, and made sure we always read what I wanted to.)
This past Christmas I decided that since the only thing in the world that I enjoy purchasing is books, I would selfishly get everyone on my list books as presents. (Well, I guess I also like buying skis, but there are limits to my generosity.) Mole thinks books are good gifts, but warns that “If you choose a title that leaves the recipient cold, you risk revealing how little you understand their tastes.” Boy is he right there. A few years ago a collection of ghost stories I co wrote, Jersey Ghost Stories, was published. This was the first time I’d ever had a book published (not counting self-publishing) and I was quite proud of myself as I gave a copy to my wife. Her bookmark penetrated about twenty pages into the book on that first day, and then never moved again. Ouch. In retrospect, I should have talked her book club into reading it. When they meet at my house I always try to push books I like on them. At my urging they have read Persepolis, The Sisters (a group biography of the Mitford Sisters), and a Massie’s Catherine the Great. They liked the first two so I’m batting .666 and might have spent some of that goodwill in tricking them into reading my book.
If this review has been long and rambling, it is only because, like Tom Mole, I enjoy talking about books. I only wish I could do it as well or as knowledgeably as he does. Mole is an academic who knows his subject, but he does not, thankfully, write like an academic. His style is conversational and warm. Reading The Secret Life of Books is like having a long conversation about books with a friend who knows what he is talking about. This book is a pleasure to read.
July 31, 2025
Charming! Reminding about the joy of reading a physical book. Enjoyed it a lot!
September 29, 2019
This is a book about books, preaching to the converted, already established bibliophile like myself. I have an inquiring mind and to read any narrative that explains my... let’s call it obsession with books and my need to accumulate vast quantities sparked my interest.
Because that’s what I do. I accumulate according Tom Mole who runs the Centre for the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh, where he is a professor of English Literature and Book History.
To define this book in its most simplistic form, Mole explores our relationship with books as objects and how as he puts it ‘reading them is only one thing that we do with books.’ You can tell a lot about a person just by perusing their shelves and gain an insight into their tastes. Would I agree with this statement? Probably not given the eclectic mix of genres I have adorning my shelves. I don’t think one would be able to place my preferences systematically to be honest
One part which really caught my attention was the use of electronic devices such as the kindle to read books. In the era of smart phones and accessibility kindle devices are for the majority (myself included) a great way to read. But with ease comes many distractions. With a physical book a reader allows themselves to switch of from the world, with permission for the words of its narrator carry them on whatever adventure they have planned. It makes me think that as modern technology progresses, kindle, audiobooks etc…the chance to sit with a physical book is becoming a rare privilege. Is the art of physically reading a book diminishing?
An interesting and articulate written account offering snippets of information for why readers become so invested in books. Like with any non-fiction the writing did take me a while to really invest myself, but the authors offer of intriguing thoughts and reasoning kept my attention firmly placed. An interesting read and quite frankly, as a bibliophile I was fascinated.
Zubs
Because that’s what I do. I accumulate according Tom Mole who runs the Centre for the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh, where he is a professor of English Literature and Book History.
To define this book in its most simplistic form, Mole explores our relationship with books as objects and how as he puts it ‘reading them is only one thing that we do with books.’ You can tell a lot about a person just by perusing their shelves and gain an insight into their tastes. Would I agree with this statement? Probably not given the eclectic mix of genres I have adorning my shelves. I don’t think one would be able to place my preferences systematically to be honest
One part which really caught my attention was the use of electronic devices such as the kindle to read books. In the era of smart phones and accessibility kindle devices are for the majority (myself included) a great way to read. But with ease comes many distractions. With a physical book a reader allows themselves to switch of from the world, with permission for the words of its narrator carry them on whatever adventure they have planned. It makes me think that as modern technology progresses, kindle, audiobooks etc…the chance to sit with a physical book is becoming a rare privilege. Is the art of physically reading a book diminishing?
An interesting and articulate written account offering snippets of information for why readers become so invested in books. Like with any non-fiction the writing did take me a while to really invest myself, but the authors offer of intriguing thoughts and reasoning kept my attention firmly placed. An interesting read and quite frankly, as a bibliophile I was fascinated.
Zubs
January 5, 2020
A rare but not unique phenomenon occurred as I read 'The Secret Life of Books': I agreed with it so much that it actually started to get on my nerves. The ideas are expressed much more elegantly than I could manage, of course, but they seemed somewhat obvious. I responded to being told books are important as physical objects with some level of affront. You're telling me this? Me, a person who read 176 books last year, all of which were physical hardcopies? Me, who drags stacks of library books to and fro despite being perfectly well aware that e-readers exist? Me, who creepily smells the pages and fiddles with the edges of book covers as she reads them? This instinctive reaction was tempered by chagrin at my arrogance. Mole makes his points clearly and well, I just didn't need convincing of them.
After the initial consideration of books as objects, subsequent chapters consider them as markers of identity, signifiers of lifetime milestones, and links between people. Each chapter is fairly brief, as the whole book is only 200 pages long. Mole includes a range of historical examples and personal anecdotes to support his points, as well as some interludes illustrated with paintings. This structure reminded me of Alberto Manguel, a difficult writer to live up to. Unsurprisingly, Mole references Manguel and thanks him personally in the acknowledgements. I would have appreciated a more Manguel-esque level of depth and detail, making for a longer and possibly less accessible book. However I don't expect anyone to be writing for me alone, and there is a lot to appreciate in 'The Secret Life of Books' as it stands.
A particular joy is the linkage with Edinburgh, as Mole lives here and teaches at the University of Edinburgh. I was delighted to learn of 'The Fair Intellectual Club', a secret reading group of young women, founded in Edinburgh in 1717. Another excellent detail was Anne Fadiman's classification of 'courtly' and 'carnal' book lovers. I am probably closer to the carnal end of the spectrum, as I tend to inadvertently crack softback bindings and don't mind when books look worn. That said, I consider writing in books shocking and totally unacceptable. Mole also makes some thoughtful comments on e-books and how they lack many affordances of hardcopies, although ways of simulating these might be developed in future, e.g. virtual bookplates. He also reminded me about the importance of the spatial dimension when remembering a book's content. When searching for particular paragraph to quote, I sometimes remember the page number, but more often roughly how far through it was and whether it was on a right or left hand page. Approximate location is much easier to recall than the precise words. Likewise, I'm better at recalling the cover images and shelf locations of books than their titles and authors.
'The Secret Life of Books' was an easy and pleasant read, while feeling rather like being solemnly told to do something I've been doing enthusiastically for thirty years: appreciate the materiality and wider significance of books. One thing I'd have liked more discussion of is the difference in flow states when reading a book on paper or on an electronic device. Mole talks about how books disappear during reading, as your mind becomes immersed in the text. I love this flow state, obviously. I can experience it while reading on a laptop, but hardly ever on a smart phone. However it is much, much easier with a physical book. My theory is that I focus best on words when my hands are occupied with a physical object. Balancing the book and turning its pages enables me to read more intensively. On a laptop, my hands get fidgety with nothing to do but scroll down and I often switch between tabs or programs. With a smart phone, I'm so easily distracted by the annoyance of the touch screen that I'll put it down, do something else, and only remember hours later that I was reading an article. Similarly, I have to play cards, knit, or repeatedly plait my hair when listening to a podcast, otherwise I stop paying attention to it. I've no idea how common this pattern of experience is, although my aversion to smart phones seems unusual for my generation. There must be differences in how we focus while reading on paper and screens, though, and presumably research on the topic. Anyway, I definitely agree with Mole that books are wonderful and would happily read more from him, in greater detail, on the subject.
After the initial consideration of books as objects, subsequent chapters consider them as markers of identity, signifiers of lifetime milestones, and links between people. Each chapter is fairly brief, as the whole book is only 200 pages long. Mole includes a range of historical examples and personal anecdotes to support his points, as well as some interludes illustrated with paintings. This structure reminded me of Alberto Manguel, a difficult writer to live up to. Unsurprisingly, Mole references Manguel and thanks him personally in the acknowledgements. I would have appreciated a more Manguel-esque level of depth and detail, making for a longer and possibly less accessible book. However I don't expect anyone to be writing for me alone, and there is a lot to appreciate in 'The Secret Life of Books' as it stands.
A particular joy is the linkage with Edinburgh, as Mole lives here and teaches at the University of Edinburgh. I was delighted to learn of 'The Fair Intellectual Club', a secret reading group of young women, founded in Edinburgh in 1717. Another excellent detail was Anne Fadiman's classification of 'courtly' and 'carnal' book lovers. I am probably closer to the carnal end of the spectrum, as I tend to inadvertently crack softback bindings and don't mind when books look worn. That said, I consider writing in books shocking and totally unacceptable. Mole also makes some thoughtful comments on e-books and how they lack many affordances of hardcopies, although ways of simulating these might be developed in future, e.g. virtual bookplates. He also reminded me about the importance of the spatial dimension when remembering a book's content. When searching for particular paragraph to quote, I sometimes remember the page number, but more often roughly how far through it was and whether it was on a right or left hand page. Approximate location is much easier to recall than the precise words. Likewise, I'm better at recalling the cover images and shelf locations of books than their titles and authors.
'The Secret Life of Books' was an easy and pleasant read, while feeling rather like being solemnly told to do something I've been doing enthusiastically for thirty years: appreciate the materiality and wider significance of books. One thing I'd have liked more discussion of is the difference in flow states when reading a book on paper or on an electronic device. Mole talks about how books disappear during reading, as your mind becomes immersed in the text. I love this flow state, obviously. I can experience it while reading on a laptop, but hardly ever on a smart phone. However it is much, much easier with a physical book. My theory is that I focus best on words when my hands are occupied with a physical object. Balancing the book and turning its pages enables me to read more intensively. On a laptop, my hands get fidgety with nothing to do but scroll down and I often switch between tabs or programs. With a smart phone, I'm so easily distracted by the annoyance of the touch screen that I'll put it down, do something else, and only remember hours later that I was reading an article. Similarly, I have to play cards, knit, or repeatedly plait my hair when listening to a podcast, otherwise I stop paying attention to it. I've no idea how common this pattern of experience is, although my aversion to smart phones seems unusual for my generation. There must be differences in how we focus while reading on paper and screens, though, and presumably research on the topic. Anyway, I definitely agree with Mole that books are wonderful and would happily read more from him, in greater detail, on the subject.
August 20, 2020
I enjoyed this book enough as a book lover and purveyor, but I have to admit that I've read better versions of this same thing. There are plenty of books that cover this gamut and they're always fascinating, and always this beautiful examination of what it means to be a book lover. However, I have to say I'm more fond of the ones that refuse to indict ebooks a fair bit more- the form and function of the paper book will never be replicated or replaced, but there's nothing quite so bad about ebooks that they deserve to be lampooned in such a way. An interesting read about a read, but not one that will stick with me forever.
September 28, 2019
“I don’t suppose anyone will ever ask to paint my portrait, but if they do I certainly plan to take a book along to the sittings. I’ll choose a cracking detective story to pass the time, and then get the artist to paint ‘Homer’ or ‘Milton’ on the front cover afterwards.”
The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More Than Words, by Tom Mole, is an extended essay exploring our relationship with books as objects. The author posits that a reader’s books, at least the ones they choose to hold on to and put on their shelves where guests may view them, tell us exactly who they think they are. For the reader themselves he suggests that books serve as aide memoirs for life as it passes.
“Books on the shelves are sandbags stacked against the floodwaters of forgetting”
Divided into eight main chapters plus a coda, a variety of topics are explored including: the book as a thing and the development of associated accoutrements; the history and development of the book in the form we know it today; the part books play in personal lives and how they are more widely valued as a national cultural treasure; technological changes and how this has affected ownership and reading habits; prospects for the future of the book as society changes. Between each pair of chapters are interludes in which the author studies a work of art that includes images of books, and discusses their potential meaning.
Books connect people, enhancing relationships with shared discussion and interest. A Kindle may offer the same words but a physical copy enables others to observe what is being read and to then share their thoughts on the text, thereby bringing people together. Of course, readers do not always wish to be disturbed while reading. From wing backed chairs that provided a degree of privacy in shared space to noise cancelling headphones for busy commuters, accoutrements have been purchased in addition to books.
With the advent of railway travel people pondered how to avoid wasting their time during journeys. Reading was considered a beneficial activity and WH Smith began to sell books from kiosks in train stations. Developing technology enabled not just wider travel but cheaper reading material.
I found the chapter on bookshop and library classification fascinating, influenced as it is by society’s moral and value judgements. I was reminded of contemporary debates over the perceived disparagement of genre fiction, misogyny and literary elitism.
Throughout the medium’s existence, certain books have been valued, carefully held within national libraries and archives which reflect a country’s cultural pride. Book burning is discussed along with the targeting of national libraries by insurgents in times of war.
“The battle against books is a battle against history, against learning, against culture, against openness to others. The fact that our books stand in so readily for our identities, our aspirations and our heritage makes them targets. […] Destroying books is a deliberate strategy for attacking the identity of a culture and denying its right to exist.”
Moving on, the author accepts the benefits of e-readers but points out several aspects of the form that could prove problematic over time.
“Books produced on paper or parchment are, for the most part, superbly durable. […] By comparison, we have trouble recovering digital files stored only a few decades ago in superseded formats on obsolete hardware.”
“Like all modern consumer electronics, e-readers have built-in obsolescence.”
There are interesting thoughts on the personal and environmental footprint of digital technology: the provenance of materials used in manufacturing; working conditions in factories that produce the devices; the challenges of disposal when improved versions are created. The central data storage facilities where digital copies of books are held must also be run and maintained yet do not provide the aesthetic pleasure of a library.
E-books are not owned; what is purchased is a license to read the words. Thus books cannot be passed on or shared. There are no shelves for others to browse, no books to bequeath to friends or children. Valued heritage is not digital.
Sales figures show that books considered disposable are often purchased in higher numbers on e-book. Titles that a reader will hold on to, perhaps hoping to reread, sell better in physical copy. There has been a recent trend to make these books more beautiful. They stay in hardback for longer. Paperback copies may be produced with French flaps. Bearing this in mind, the copy of this book I was sent is therefore an object to be treasured.
Electronic devices tend to be multi-purpose with the inevitable distractions this brings. A physical book offers a chance to switch off – an escape. In the future, with the growth of the gig economy, such action may be possible only for the privileged.
The author muses on his own shelves and how he has invested in a family home furnished with books. He notes the transience of a life and how he knows he must one day give his books away, passing them into the collections of other readers.
The writing took a little while to capture my attention but once engaged provided some beautifully expressed insights into why readers become so invested in the books they desire and give space to. The author is articulate and interesting, offering intriguing nuggets for consideration. This is a book I will happily add to my shelves, and recommend to all fellow bibliophiles.
The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More Than Words, by Tom Mole, is an extended essay exploring our relationship with books as objects. The author posits that a reader’s books, at least the ones they choose to hold on to and put on their shelves where guests may view them, tell us exactly who they think they are. For the reader themselves he suggests that books serve as aide memoirs for life as it passes.
“Books on the shelves are sandbags stacked against the floodwaters of forgetting”
Divided into eight main chapters plus a coda, a variety of topics are explored including: the book as a thing and the development of associated accoutrements; the history and development of the book in the form we know it today; the part books play in personal lives and how they are more widely valued as a national cultural treasure; technological changes and how this has affected ownership and reading habits; prospects for the future of the book as society changes. Between each pair of chapters are interludes in which the author studies a work of art that includes images of books, and discusses their potential meaning.
Books connect people, enhancing relationships with shared discussion and interest. A Kindle may offer the same words but a physical copy enables others to observe what is being read and to then share their thoughts on the text, thereby bringing people together. Of course, readers do not always wish to be disturbed while reading. From wing backed chairs that provided a degree of privacy in shared space to noise cancelling headphones for busy commuters, accoutrements have been purchased in addition to books.
With the advent of railway travel people pondered how to avoid wasting their time during journeys. Reading was considered a beneficial activity and WH Smith began to sell books from kiosks in train stations. Developing technology enabled not just wider travel but cheaper reading material.
I found the chapter on bookshop and library classification fascinating, influenced as it is by society’s moral and value judgements. I was reminded of contemporary debates over the perceived disparagement of genre fiction, misogyny and literary elitism.
Throughout the medium’s existence, certain books have been valued, carefully held within national libraries and archives which reflect a country’s cultural pride. Book burning is discussed along with the targeting of national libraries by insurgents in times of war.
“The battle against books is a battle against history, against learning, against culture, against openness to others. The fact that our books stand in so readily for our identities, our aspirations and our heritage makes them targets. […] Destroying books is a deliberate strategy for attacking the identity of a culture and denying its right to exist.”
Moving on, the author accepts the benefits of e-readers but points out several aspects of the form that could prove problematic over time.
“Books produced on paper or parchment are, for the most part, superbly durable. […] By comparison, we have trouble recovering digital files stored only a few decades ago in superseded formats on obsolete hardware.”
“Like all modern consumer electronics, e-readers have built-in obsolescence.”
There are interesting thoughts on the personal and environmental footprint of digital technology: the provenance of materials used in manufacturing; working conditions in factories that produce the devices; the challenges of disposal when improved versions are created. The central data storage facilities where digital copies of books are held must also be run and maintained yet do not provide the aesthetic pleasure of a library.
E-books are not owned; what is purchased is a license to read the words. Thus books cannot be passed on or shared. There are no shelves for others to browse, no books to bequeath to friends or children. Valued heritage is not digital.
Sales figures show that books considered disposable are often purchased in higher numbers on e-book. Titles that a reader will hold on to, perhaps hoping to reread, sell better in physical copy. There has been a recent trend to make these books more beautiful. They stay in hardback for longer. Paperback copies may be produced with French flaps. Bearing this in mind, the copy of this book I was sent is therefore an object to be treasured.
Electronic devices tend to be multi-purpose with the inevitable distractions this brings. A physical book offers a chance to switch off – an escape. In the future, with the growth of the gig economy, such action may be possible only for the privileged.
The author muses on his own shelves and how he has invested in a family home furnished with books. He notes the transience of a life and how he knows he must one day give his books away, passing them into the collections of other readers.
The writing took a little while to capture my attention but once engaged provided some beautifully expressed insights into why readers become so invested in the books they desire and give space to. The author is articulate and interesting, offering intriguing nuggets for consideration. This is a book I will happily add to my shelves, and recommend to all fellow bibliophiles.
March 20, 2022
As a collector and reader of antique and modern books I received this as a gift from my girlfriend. I found parts of the book interesting such as the part regarding the history of book clubs. I did however find the book to be repetitive and the author seemed to take a long time to get their points across hence the 3 stars. Towards the end of the book I started getting a bit bored and looked forward to reading my next book.
February 6, 2023
A potted history of the book. Some of it seems so obvious as to need no explanation, however, some if it is very interesting. I loved the chapter about Van Gogh and the painting ‘Still Life with Bible’. I wasn’t aware of that painting but I do love paintings of people reading or of books.
March 8, 2025
yes yes YES! if you read any books you have to read this. its a reflection on the significance of a book and its importance for our lives, relationship, the world and technology. its inspired me to appreciate the physical copy of my book and make my mark on it. i totally recommend
December 23, 2021
Essential reading for every bibliophile, especially those with a particular fondness for the physicality of printed books.📖
Thanks to Amy C for loaning this to me 😊
Thanks to Amy C for loaning this to me 😊
November 14, 2024
Very interesting analysis of books and their meanings and relationships to us.
December 31, 2019
I have just discovered I love books about books. This one was a gem, about what books mean to us, beyond the content they contain.
December 22, 2019
While I don't always agree with Tom Mole I found this book to be a fascinating discussion of the way we interact with books.
Tom intersperses interesting anecdotes with a discussion of the past present and future of books.
Mostly this is about the printed codex, and our relationship with them, but is not a dry academic discussion of the history of the book.
Tom intersperses interesting anecdotes with a discussion of the past present and future of books.
Mostly this is about the printed codex, and our relationship with them, but is not a dry academic discussion of the history of the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews