Michael Olmert

This book is a book of essays - mostly about the daily objects and rituals that are found in the modern world. Some are more interesting than others (I skipped most of the chapter about baseball) but for the most part, these are all entertaining. I initially found the article to bounce around too much from age and and topic, but once I became accustomed to this, I could easily imagine each essay on NPR, maybe with the announcer using an English, friendly know it all type accent.

You will not show more find hardcore history in this book - each essay ends with a "For more Information" which lists sources and books/articles pertaining to the topic. show less

If, as a Bibliophile, you’ve ever wondered about the process that goes into a book and I’m not just talking about the writing and imagination of Authors, then this is the book for you; and if you’ve ever read ‘Inkheart’ then this is definitely something you will want to open.

Although it is relatively short given how long the printed word has been in existence, this is more than made up for by the beautiful illustrations that adorn its pages and the explanation of evolution of books show more which covers topics such as their purpose, how they are produced and also their appearance. Although primarily covering the history of books throughout Europe there is also some text given over to the Middle and Far East, plus a little bit of the United States too. Particular attention is given over to William Morris and Children’s books and an interesting section on typography, some of which the reader can still see in use in the books of today. Admittedly, toward the end, the Author does mention advancements in electronic publishing and printing which, given the fact this book was published in 2003 (first print being 1992), and this section struck me as not only outdated given the time lapsed, but also rather dry and out of odds with the rest of the book.

The writing is crisp, clear and concise without it ever becoming text book dry thankfully, but to be quite honest the writing does take a back seat to those wonderful photographs and images I previously mentioned; so if you are not interested in reading about the history of books, it is worth picking up just to see everything. Based on the images alone it would make a great addition to any library or coffee table.

I would highly recommend this book to any and all bibliophiles, grab a glass of your favourite chilled beverage, sit back and enjoy this.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/08/20/review-the-smithsonian-book-of-books-micha...




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. show less

If, as a Bibliophile, you’ve ever wondered about the process that goes into a book and I’m not just talking about the writing and imagination of Authors, then this is the book for you; and if you’ve ever read ‘Inkheart’ then this is definitely something you will want to open.

Although it is relatively short given how long the printed word has been in existence, this is more than made up for by the beautiful illustrations that adorn its pages and the explanation of evolution of books show more which covers topics such as their purpose, how they are produced and also their appearance. Although primarily covering the history of books throughout Europe there is also some text given over to the Middle and Far East, plus a little bit of the United States too. Particular attention is given over to William Morris and Children’s books and an interesting section on typography, some of which the reader can still see in use in the books of today. Admittedly, toward the end, the Author does mention advancements in electronic publishing and printing which, given the fact this book was published in 2003 (first print being 1992), and this section struck me as not only outdated given the time lapsed, but also rather dry and out of odds with the rest of the book.

The writing is crisp, clear and concise without it ever becoming text book dry thankfully, but to be quite honest the writing does take a back seat to those wonderful photographs and images I previously mentioned; so if you are not interested in reading about the history of books, it is worth picking up just to see everything. Based on the images alone it would make a great addition to any library or coffee table.

I would highly recommend this book to any and all bibliophiles, grab a glass of your favourite chilled beverage, sit back and enjoy this.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/08/20/review-the-smithsonian-book-of-books-micha...




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. show less

A beautiful and sumptuous reference collection, covering the history of the book as represented in the Smithsonian collection. A lovely and well-annotated book.