A History of Reading
- ISBN-10
- 0698178971
- ISBN-13
- 9780698178977
- Series
- A History of Reading
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 384
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2014-08-26
- Publisher
- Penguin
- Author
- Alberto Manguel
Description
At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning, and at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. Noted essayist and editor Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the six-thousand-year-old conversation between words and that hero without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel brilliantly covers reading as seduction, as rebellion, and as obsession and goes on to trace the quirky and fascinating history of the reader’s progress from clay tablet to scroll, codex to CD-ROM.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
A History of Reading in the West
By Roger Chartier, Guglielmo CavalloArticles explore the innovations in the physical evolution of the book, as well as the growth and development of a broad-based reading public.
-
The Social Life of Books: Reading Together in the Eighteenth-Century Home
By Abigail WilliamsIn this fascinating and vivid history, Abigail Williams explores the ways in which shared reading shaped the lives and literary culture of the eighteenth century, offering new perspectives on how books have been used by their readers, and ...
-
The History of Reading: A Reader
By Shafquat Towheed, Rosalind Crone, Katie HalseyBill Bell, Director of the Centre for the History of the Book, The University of Edinburgh.
-
The History of Reading: A Reader
By Shafquat Towheed, Rosalind Crone, Katie HalseyBill Bell, Director of the Centre for the History of the Book, The University of Edinburgh.
-
A Reader on Reading
By Alberto ManguelIn this major collection of his essays, Alberto Manguel, whom George Steiner has called “the Casanova of reading,” argues that the activity of reading, in its broadest sense, defines our species. “We come into the world intent on ...
-
A History of Reading and Writing: In the Western World
By Martyn LyonsA wide-ranging overview of the history of reading and writing in western societies from ancient times to the digital age. Author from University of NSW, Australia.
-
Packing My Library: An Elegy and Ten Digressions
By Alberto ManguelManguel’s musings range widely, from delightful reflections on the idiosyncrasies of book lovers to deeper analyses of historic and catastrophic book events, including the burning of ancient Alexandria’s library and contemporary library ...
-
The Art of Reading: An Illustrated History of Books in Paint
By Jamie Camplin, Maria Ranauro“Why do artists love books?” This volume takes this tantalizingly simple question as a starting point to reveal centuries of symbiosis between the visual and literary arts.
-
Reading Pictures: A History of Love and Hate
By Alberto ManguelIn Reading Pictures the acclaimed writer Alberto Manguel sets out to show how the 'common viewer', like himself, can be drawn into the world of paintings, buildings, sculptures and photographs.
-
Curiosity
By Alberto ManguelIn Alberto Manguel's most personal book to date, the author tracks his own life of curiosity through the reading that has mapped his way. Manguel chooses as his guides a selection of writers who sparked his imagination.