The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski (PDF)

Description

From the author of the highly praised The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things comes another captivating history of the seemingly mundane: the book and its storage.Most of us take for granted that our books are vertical on our shelves with the spines facing out, but Henry Petroski, inveterately curious engineer, didn’t. As a result, readers are guided along the astonishing evolution from papyrus scrolls boxed at Alexandria to upright books shelved at the Library of Congress. Unimpeachably researched, enviably written, and charmed with anecdotes from Seneca to Samuel Pepys to a nineteenth-century bibliophile who had to climb over his books to get into bed, The Book on the Bookshelf is indispensable for anyone who loves books.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Petroski works well with an ongoing vision of how books and space have evolved and continue to evolve from the past to the future. His biting view tells us that the book is a tool of ongoing use and not the specific and frozen art of any moment.

⭐It’s a good book. I’ve designed a number of complex built-in bookcases, own a sizeable hone library with aspirations, and this book fits in nicely among other books about the history of books and libraries while covering some new ground.One thing I didn’t quite get is the introduction where he talks about a friend of his but doesn’t say who it is–is he being silly or did the person not want to be named? I just couldn’t decide but he makes it pretty clear who the person is.Anyway if you’re interested in this topic, it’s worth the time and space on the shelf.

⭐We tend not to think about things like the bookshelf. It’s history and function. And the book on it. Weren’t books always shelved the way they are now? Spine out, on a horizontal shelf next to others placed vertically?Well, no. Petroski takes the reader on a an adventure through the reading history of the West, explaining the birth of books and what they were set upon. Numerous illustrations take us from the codex to the chained book to the printed book. From horizontal stacking to front cover out to spine in to spine out.Truly an intriguing romp for bibliophiles and historians. A must for anybody in library science. Well-cited, though with that new style of endnotes that makes me gag. A bib and index, along with an appendix on shelving systems. An endlessly diverting book.

⭐I’m a book collector and reader, and had always taken the shelves on which they stand for grated. This interesting book tells me how my bookshelves got the way they are and perhaps what the future will bring. Ironically, I read this on my iPad so it doesn’t need a space on a shelf, but I generally prefer the tactile look, feel and smell of a bound book, so shelves and their history will remain in my house.

⭐Good condition! The problem is: I am a librarian and the book is from a library! I don’t know what happened! The book has all the library identification items! Was it stolen?

⭐My 2 star review is because description for this book was “very good” and although it is physically in good shape it smells more like a basement than my basement does! I want the book but I do not want the musty smell to be exposed to my other books. I threw away the dust jacket because it reeked. Disappointed.

⭐A historical trip through the development of how books have been kept over the ages. It could be dry for those who don’t really love books, but fascinating for those of us who do. His other books are equally interesting.

⭐This is in essence a brief history of library design, fleshed out to book length by Petroski’s memories of the bookshelves in his life. It is primarily not (as are his other books) a framework for his theories of industrial design, which are barely mentioned.Petroski is obviously a booklover and has thought the many things, profound and mundane, that booklovers think about their books. But reading about his thinking about them is not a particularly interesting or enlightening experience. If the layout of libraries intrigues you then there is interesting information here. Otherwise, there really isn’t much point.

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