Scan barcode
A review by sarah_tollok
Know the Past, Find the Future: The New York Public Library at 100 by Various
5.0
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, otherwise known as the main branch of the New York Public Library, houses one of the most expansive and impressive collections of literature, photography, art, music, and other priceless ephemera on the planet. But if all those works and items weren't amazing enough, what is even more incredible is that the doors are not locked, but rather wide open to the public.
This collection, published by Penguin Classics as s celebration of the institution's 100th birthday, brings together creatives, intellectuals, and others from all professions and all walks of life, allowing each to pick one item from the archives and express what it means to them. It's heartening to see so many notable individuals turn into fangirls, awestruck by getting to hold the works of geniuses and legends. They revert to children who, upon their first ever visit to a library, walk through the stacks, speechless with the realization that everything on those shelves is there for them to hold, to read, to learn from, to be inspired by.
Libraries are magical places. This book captures a little bit of that magic on every page and allows the reader to feel it, even if they never get to pass between the twin, noble lions there at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
This collection, published by Penguin Classics as s celebration of the institution's 100th birthday, brings together creatives, intellectuals, and others from all professions and all walks of life, allowing each to pick one item from the archives and express what it means to them. It's heartening to see so many notable individuals turn into fangirls, awestruck by getting to hold the works of geniuses and legends. They revert to children who, upon their first ever visit to a library, walk through the stacks, speechless with the realization that everything on those shelves is there for them to hold, to read, to learn from, to be inspired by.
Libraries are magical places. This book captures a little bit of that magic on every page and allows the reader to feel it, even if they never get to pass between the twin, noble lions there at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.