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benrogerswpg's review against another edition
3.0
This was a nice read about libraries.
I would recommend if this topic interests you.
Parts of it was quite fascinating.
3.4/5
I would recommend if this topic interests you.
Parts of it was quite fascinating.
3.4/5
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
4.0
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.