Reviews

All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopaedia by Simon Garfield

lamsaa's review against another edition

informative

4.25

emily_madcharo's review against another edition

funny informative medium-paced

3.75

huddycleve's review against another edition

funny informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

kellyroberson's review against another edition

5.0

What a glorious book, written with humor and heart.

cradlow's review against another edition

informative inspiring

5.0

andrewb21's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

A joyful and enthusiastic history of the encyclopedia and how generations of scholars have attempted to put together all of human knowledge. The author's love for the subject is infectious, evidenced by the fact that I now have several encyclopedia sets on my eBay watch list. 

shelfimprovement's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

2.5

bethanysorichetti's review against another edition

It was due back at the library and I couldn’t renew

gossamerchild's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

plaidpladd's review against another edition

2.0

I've really enjoyed a lot of Simon Garfield's books in the past, and I was excited about learning more about this topic. I'm very interested in the history of books, and I really love encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works. This book was obviously exhaustively researched, but it ended up being a slog. The chronology of events was sometimes difficult to keep straight, and I think it just got too bogged down in the details.