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A review by avalinda
The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts, and Other Literary Curiosities from History by Edward Brooke-Hitching
5.0
Truly lives up to its title. If you ever find yourself bored or disillusioned by the society of today, rest assured that the same ennui and the same problems have persisted over the last few millennia, except that they were less well documented and often had novel, entertaining, or even barbaric variations. Even though we now have fairly authoritative disciplines in biology, chemistry, mathematics, etc., the basic human drive to map the unknown still persists, and it's likely some of our current practices will be deemed antiquated and backward by people of the far-flung future, just as we say the same of the works of medieval philosophers, physicians, and the occasional astrologer and/or quack. History never ceases to repeat itself, with subtle variations depending on the writer in question; and yet, intriguing creations can be found in every major period of our existence.
My personal favorite section is, unsurprisingly, "Cryptic Books" which includes a description of an endlessly captivating work, The Voynich Manuscript. A close second would be the beautiful paper instruments from the "Books that aren't Books" category. The historical background on anthropodermic bibliopegy, a euphemism for binding books in human skin, was creepy yet morbidly interesting, serving as a reminder that humans can accept just about anything if social and political circumstances dampen the blow. There simply isn't enough space to write down my thoughts about all the other sections, but suffice it to say that reality is stranger than fiction, and the history behind our literature is a fascinating one that is often lost behind the appearance of an ordinary-looking cover. Some of these works were truly artistic labors of love while others verge on the grotesque and horrific, but the personalities and stories are worth remembering. And, as if my TBR list isn't long enough, I should now have enough obscure, occult, mythological and artistic reading material to last me another couple of years.
In short, I'm glad to be reminded that books and literature are the physical manifestation of humanity's quest for answers, and though it's a long and arduous process for us to discover them, the process is worth knowing about - if only to become more aware of our origins, however dark and misinformed they might have been. It's all the more instructive and helps instill a sense of appreciation for how far we've made it, and how far we have yet to go. And I now want really badly to become a rare book dealer / art historian / archivist to get a firsthand look at some of the works that were presented. I'll end with a beautifully worded quote from the book:
"More than most, these are books with real stories to tell. Each redefines, in its own way, the concept of just what a book can be; each brings a skip to the heartbeat of the bibliophile, rewriting and expanding our sense of what it is we love about books. And yet for one reason or another these volumes were banished to the silted depths of obscurity. But these books breathe. They hold thoughts, knowledge, and humour otherwise long gone. Their stories - and to a degree, their authors - are alive upon opening them, undiminished by the violence of time. It seems only right to reach out and recover them, to bring them all together in the pages of this book, a dedicated library all their own. The oddballs, the deviants, the long-lost misfits - the forgotten recollected."
My personal favorite section is, unsurprisingly, "Cryptic Books" which includes a description of an endlessly captivating work, The Voynich Manuscript. A close second would be the beautiful paper instruments from the "Books that aren't Books" category. The historical background on anthropodermic bibliopegy, a euphemism for binding books in human skin, was creepy yet morbidly interesting, serving as a reminder that humans can accept just about anything if social and political circumstances dampen the blow. There simply isn't enough space to write down my thoughts about all the other sections, but suffice it to say that reality is stranger than fiction, and the history behind our literature is a fascinating one that is often lost behind the appearance of an ordinary-looking cover. Some of these works were truly artistic labors of love while others verge on the grotesque and horrific, but the personalities and stories are worth remembering. And, as if my TBR list isn't long enough, I should now have enough obscure, occult, mythological and artistic reading material to last me another couple of years.
In short, I'm glad to be reminded that books and literature are the physical manifestation of humanity's quest for answers, and though it's a long and arduous process for us to discover them, the process is worth knowing about - if only to become more aware of our origins, however dark and misinformed they might have been. It's all the more instructive and helps instill a sense of appreciation for how far we've made it, and how far we have yet to go. And I now want really badly to become a rare book dealer / art historian / archivist to get a firsthand look at some of the works that were presented. I'll end with a beautifully worded quote from the book:
"More than most, these are books with real stories to tell. Each redefines, in its own way, the concept of just what a book can be; each brings a skip to the heartbeat of the bibliophile, rewriting and expanding our sense of what it is we love about books. And yet for one reason or another these volumes were banished to the silted depths of obscurity. But these books breathe. They hold thoughts, knowledge, and humour otherwise long gone. Their stories - and to a degree, their authors - are alive upon opening them, undiminished by the violence of time. It seems only right to reach out and recover them, to bring them all together in the pages of this book, a dedicated library all their own. The oddballs, the deviants, the long-lost misfits - the forgotten recollected."