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The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More Than Words

We love books. We take them to bed with us. They weigh down our suitcases when we go on holiday. We display them on our bookshelves or store them in our attics. We give them as gifts. We write our names in them. We take them for granted. And all the time, our books are leading a double life.

The Secret Life of Books is about everything that isn’t just the words. It’s about how books transform us as individuals. It’s about how books — and readers — have evolved over time. And it’s about why, even with the arrival of other media, books still have the power to change our lives.

In this illuminating account, Tom Mole looks at everything from binding innovations to binding errors, to books defaced by lovers, to those imprisoning professors in their offices, to books in art, to burned books, to the books that create nations, to those we’ll leave behind.

It will change how you think about books.

A real treasure trove for book lovers’ — Alexander McCall Smith

‘Every sentence is utterly captivating ... probably the most compulsive text ever penned about what it means to handle and possess a book’ — Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

‘Wonderfully insightful’ — Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading

‘Tom Mole’s enthusiasm for books is infectious. If you also love books ... you’ll want to discover The Secret Life of Books’ — Sam Jordison, author of Literary London

‘A treat for bibliophiles everywhere’ — Gavin Francis, author of Shapeshifters

‘A treasure-chest, filled with bookish wonders’ — Adam Roberts, BSFA award-winning author of Jack Glass

‘I suspect I’ll never look at a book the same way again’ — Jon Courtenay Grimwood, author of Stamping Butterflies

  • Format
  • hardcover
  • Pages
  • 229
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781783964581
  • Genres
  • history, writing
  • Release date
  • 2019