Martyn Lyons

All too often, books like Books: A Living History are bedeviled by bad writing, bad design, bad illustrations, or some combination of the three. I'm extremely pleased to say that this is very much an exception to that trend. Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum in the U.S. (Thames & Hudson in the U.K.), Books: A Living History combines an excellent, lively text by historian of the book Martyn Lyons with spared-no-expense design and illustrations.

Lyons' text is a good, broad overview of book show more history from the beginning to the present, broken into short chapters and sections for easy browsing. While anyone interested in the topic will want to see more of their particular hobbyhorse (provenance and personal libraries in my case), there's a bit here for all, with essays on the origins of writing and printing, monastic libraries, print in the Islamic world, scientific printing, copyright, romance novels, modern publishing, &c. &c.

The text is greatly enhanced by the presence of a vast number of beautifully-reproduced illustrations, many of which were new to me (these are not, blessedly, the same stock images that have been appearing in every illustrated history of the book for eons). And the designers have done a great job integrating the text and the illustrations into a very nice physical object; I'm sorry, but no e-reader would do this book justice. From the eye-catching jacket design to the accessible prose, this is a book sure to appeal to any bibliophile.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2011/12/book-review-books-living-history.html show less

Marvelous, marvelous book! With deft prose and well-chosen pictures, Lyons goes through the history of the printed word. Starting with wedge marks on clay and going up to the digital Kindle, he sweeps the reader through the torrid history of books and reading. Divided into 5 sections, with smaller subheadings, this is a easy, fast, interesting read. It's on overview, not a comprehensive work, so it will leave you with the urge to go find out more about lots of people, places, event and show more ideas. Just my sort of book. Anyone who is a bibliophile will enjoy this wonderful volume. show less

Martyn Lyons' handsome coffee-table book is an overview of the development of writing from ancient times to the internet era. The book focuses on the developments in publication technology over the centuries, as well as the social impacts as books moved from being the privilege of the elite to being available to the masses on a global scale.

With such a vast field to cover, Lyons is necessarily somewhat cursory in his treatment of most subjects, and there is not much by way of new information show more here. However the book is richly illustrated with some quite beautiful reproductions of notable texts and other art works. show less

A nice addition to any library and of interest to anyone interested in the subject of books about books . It is beautifully produced by the publisher Thames and Hudson,. The subject matter stretches historically widely over the themes chosen with many short essays over 5 themes (Ancient and Medieval worlds, The new Culture of Print, Enlightenment and the Masses , the Publisher arrives , and Knowledge for all . it is right up to date with the last essay on digitization . In a sense the show more coverage is superficial and light but the illustrations are well chosen and plentiful . In that sense the book belongs in the coffee table category . One learns as much from the illustrations as from the text . Nonetheless it's well assembled and I like the breadth . a glossary, bibliography for further reading, sources for the illustrations and an index ensure a well rounded and professional look . Three stars for text , 5 stars for illustrations . show less