What We Talk About When We Talk About Books

June 17, 2019
Price (How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain), a Rutgers English professor and the founding director of the Rutgers Book Initiative, combines a lighthearted romp through literary history with a serious intent: to argue that the rise of e-texts is not the radical change often claimed. In fact, Price argues, change is the norm in print history: the world moved from papyrus to parchment to paper, and from scrolls to codices to books, while books themselves have changed from giant medieval compilations of parchment chained in place, to early-20th-century pocketbooks printed on onionskin. Price notes that with the advent of e-texts, physical books have a newly elevated status based in nostalgia for a pre-electronic era—and are increasingly employed as therapy, their purpose displaced from the joy of reading to self-improvement. Price’s factual tidbits are entertaining: for example, the first vegetarian cookbook was, ironically, bound with and printed on animal skins. However, her penchant for labored analogies—“Print is to digital as Madonna is to whore”—will strain even the most forgiving reader’s patience. Nevertheless, Price provides welcome comfort that the beloved book is in good shape, regardless of the form it ultimately takes.

Elisabeth Rodgers narrates this audiobook eloquently, paying attention to the author's encyclopedic knowledge of her subject. Her tone, style, and pace suit this thoughtful work's wide-ranging content. The author, a professor of the history of the book, leads the listener on a world tour of this iconic object, which she convincingly argues was the original mass-marketed product, and shows its iterations from handcrafted volume to ebook as it mirrored technological innovations. Price shares entertaining anecdotes--Hemingway's copy of ULYSSES looks unread--and revealing details: Japanese people read on smartphones, the French on computers, Americans on Kindles. Books persist and evolve, as do libraries, bookstores, and places we read. This audiobook overflows with insights. Anyone who loves to listen to and/or read books will enjoy this revelatory audiobook. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine