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.
Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 09/12/2000
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 7.98h x 5.21w x 0.62d
ISBN13: 9780375706394
ISBN10: 0375706399
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Books & Reading
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Library & Information Science | General
Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 09/12/2000
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 7.98h x 5.21w x 0.62d
ISBN13: 9780375706394
ISBN10: 0375706399
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Books & Reading
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Library & Information Science | General
About the Author
Henry Petroski is the Alexander S.Vesic Professor of Engineering and Professor of History at Duke University, where he also serves as chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.