A History of Reading Paperback - 1998

Media reviews

“A love letter written to reading.”
—George Steiner, The New York Times
 
“Anyone who reads will be hooked right away. . . . It is, after all, a history of ourselves, and a celebration of our favourite occupation.”
—Margaret Visser
 
“An amazing, breathtaking book!”
—Bernard Pivot (France)
 
“A highly entertaining overview that leaves us with both a new appreciation for our own bibliomania and a deeper understanding of the role that the written word has played throughout history.”
—The New York Times (United States)
 
“A triumph.”
—Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany)
 
“ Exuberant, sumptuous. . . a great treasure.”
—El Pais (Spain)
 
“An absolute treasure.”
—The Globe and Mail
 
“A great and beautiful book.”
—Die Zeit (Germany)
 
“The most entertaining, the most profound, the most instructive, the most jubilant book you can read today.”
—Jorge Semprun, Le Journal du Dimanche (France)
 
“An extraordinary feat of learning and writing, and a constant delight. This is my non-fiction ‘Book of the Year.’”
—The Financial Post
 
“An erudite and beguiling study of an abiding human passion.”
—Maclean’s
 
“A remarkable achievement. . . . Highly enjoyable. . . . I finished the book with a sense of gratitude to have shared this journey through time in the company of a mind so lively, knowledgeable and sympathetic.”
— P.D. James
 
“Delightfully sinful, erotic, and anarchic.”
—Neue Zurcher (Switzerland)

“If I hadn’t already got it, there is nothing I should so much like to receive. . . . Every worshipper of books will be gripped.”
 —Ruth Rendell