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emilyclaire's review against another edition
2.0
Incredibly tedious. Overwhelmingly a census of who owned how many books when, with limited exploration or discussion of the wider context or value. Focused significantly on western libraries. I was also disappointed by the discussion of modern libraries - very dismissive and suspicious.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.
bethniamh's review against another edition
I’ll probably come back to this when I have a bit more time to fully appreciate it
babymoomoocow's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
This was a book I picked up for fun since I work in libraries. However, this book reads like a monotone, about to keel over, 1000 year old professor in the basement lecture hall of some old university. Where people are fighting to stay awake to listen him and get a passing grade.
There were genuinely interesting things to learn, like the how the "silent in library" rule came from, how the trading and borrowing of books happened. And how modernity can cause libraries to struggle. But I feel like this book got lost multiple times talking about old white rich men who bought too many books. Some of which were interesting but very few and far between.
I gave this 3 stars because I did enjoy part of it, but this book shouldn't be read cover to cover. This is something for scholars to pick pieces from.
There were genuinely interesting things to learn, like the how the "silent in library" rule came from, how the trading and borrowing of books happened. And how modernity can cause libraries to struggle. But I feel like this book got lost multiple times talking about old white rich men who bought too many books. Some of which were interesting but very few and far between.
I gave this 3 stars because I did enjoy part of it, but this book shouldn't be read cover to cover. This is something for scholars to pick pieces from.
agenderberry335's review against another edition
I don’t have time, and it’s very long. I’ll possibly read it at a later date.
kaithrin's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.75
Definite four stars for the depth of content, however it was a super slow read and was very dry. It was also very Eurocentric and the pacing never felt quite right, but overall it contained an incredible amount of information over a large timescale.
navahx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book is masterfully written. It's about libraries (duh), but I read a lot of history for non-academic audiences and the way the author centers his topic is like nothing I've read recently. Political players, cultural movements, and technologies are introduced through the lens of the library without ever getting off track just to make a good narrative. The narrow lens means more details can be revealed in a single book, because there is little time spent on exposition.
The mastery comes in because I think anyone casually interested in history could jump right into this book. I know a lot of history (mostly Western, late antiquity to early modern, but I'm no beginner to other times and places), but anyone could get from this book what I got.
The author just really stays on topic so the thread of the evolution of libraries has space to blossom.
I plan to re-read this in a year or two, that's my cadence for the non-fiction books I enjoy the most. This is in that top <5% which gets it tagged as "read again".
The mastery comes in because I think anyone casually interested in history could jump right into this book. I know a lot of history (mostly Western, late antiquity to early modern, but I'm no beginner to other times and places), but anyone could get from this book what I got.
The author just really stays on topic so the thread of the evolution of libraries has space to blossom.
I plan to re-read this in a year or two, that's my cadence for the non-fiction books I enjoy the most. This is in that top <5% which gets it tagged as "read again".
lillulu's review against another edition
4.0
A superb overview of the history of libraries. Loved the initial the beginning quarter in particular that helped set the stage for how libraries came to be and how they changed over the centuries, as well as how libraries impacted political power. Also loved the last chapter about the modern politics of libraries, and would easily read a whole book on that alone.
My only gripe with the book is how Eurocentric it was, which would be fine, except there are inklings and mentions of research into global libraries at different points, but they never go in as much depth as discussions about British or American libraries. Whenever they do, it’s always in relation to the UK or to the US, so it feels very one-sided.
And on a separate note that isn’t the content: I would not have chosen this narrator for this audiobook. It took me ages to get through the book because he spoke too fast and didn’t enunciate enough, making it very hard to understand him (and mind you, I listened to the audiobook on a much lower speed than what I usually listen in, and even then, it was very hard to grasp his words and follow the story, much to the detriment of the book).
My only gripe with the book is how Eurocentric it was, which would be fine, except there are inklings and mentions of research into global libraries at different points, but they never go in as much depth as discussions about British or American libraries. Whenever they do, it’s always in relation to the UK or to the US, so it feels very one-sided.
And on a separate note that isn’t the content: I would not have chosen this narrator for this audiobook. It took me ages to get through the book because he spoke too fast and didn’t enunciate enough, making it very hard to understand him (and mind you, I listened to the audiobook on a much lower speed than what I usually listen in, and even then, it was very hard to grasp his words and follow the story, much to the detriment of the book).