A brief book about library history with a bit of book binding/printing history thrown into the mix. I wished the author went into further detail because I often found myself wanting to know more. It's a breeze through story of the turbulent times of various libraries throughout history and some of the people that helped to develop the concept of the modern day lending library institution. There were ramblings that were boring and unnecessary, for example: the section about Jonathan Swift seemed to speak of all the most mundane aspects of him. I kept waiting for more information to come and the book never really clarified his role in the history of the library. The author talks about him and most of the topics in a very broad, generalizing way. This book felt like more of a summary than a detailed history... which was what I was hoping for. ( )

A short work, that is less a straight history, but more musings on the library through the ages. Written by a librarian at Widener, it dares to venture into the quiet of the stacks and discover the turmoil that is captured there. Battles discusses how libraries have been at the center of wars both literal and figurative, places where knowledge is secreted and entombed or efficiently spread. Destroying libraries as a means of destroying culture. And the Battle of the Books over what should be placed in the library in the first place: only the best books or the universal library? A fascinating account of the places I love most.

“Like most readers, Kazin believes that the stuff he wants has been lost here, forgotten, discarded – that the library is a genezia that offers up its secrets only to the most indefatigable scholars. Of course, someone acquired these yellowing, fading materials; of course, someone retrieved them from the shelves and will return them when the reader is finished. But in the library these assistants hide behind the curtains; the library becomes a stage with a mirror for a backdrop that reflects only the reader and obscures the multifarious origins of the books.” (p. 202)

“The centralization and consolidation of libraries serves the convenience of scholars and princes alike. But great libraries are problematic in times of war, disaster, or decay, for their fate becomes the fate of the literatures they contain. Much of what comes down to us from antiquity survived because it was held in small private libraries tucked away in obscure backwaters of the ancient world, where it was more likely to escape the notice of zealots as well as princes. ( )

A history of knowledge warehousing.

It's my understanding that this is one of the standards in the world of writing about libraries. It's packed with interesting tidbits, as well as mountains of uninteresting tidbits. This is definitely not for everyone. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't easy to finish. ( )

This book was not so much a chronicle of the history of libraries as it was a chronicle of the history surrounding libraries. Filled with lots of interesting (though maybe a little dry) details, Matthew Battles addresses issues faced by libraries from the ancient past to the modern day. The format of the book was a little unusual in that it almost wandered from one subject to another and then back as opposed to methodically focusing on a particular topic, spending significantly more time on some more than others. Regardless of some of the imbalances, I enjoyed reading Library, though I might look for another book on the subject to recommend to someone else.

Experiments in Reading ( )