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Sep 12, 2000 | ISBN 9780375706394 Buy
Dec 01, 2010 | ISBN 9780307773289 Buy
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Available from:
Sep 12, 2000 | ISBN 9780375706394
Dec 01, 2010 | ISBN 9780307773289
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.
Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, where he also serves as chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The author of more than 15 books,… More about Henry Petroski
"For anyone interested in the craft of reading, [this book] is a compulsive necessity." —The New York Times Book Review"A fascinating history of two related common objects, impeccably documented and beautifully illustrated." —Civilization"After reading this book, you will not look at a book or a bookshelf in the same way." —Seattle Times"If ‘God is in the details,’ then those seeking God should read Petroski’s books." —Library Journal
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