Shelf Life: Writers on Books and Reading

by Alex Johnson (Editor)

Overview

Books: reading, collecting, and the physical housing of them has brought the book-lover joy and stress for centuries. Fascinated writers have tried to capture the particular relationships we form with our library, and the desperate troubles we will undergo to preserve it. With Alex Johnson as your guide, immerse yourself in this eclectic anthology and hear from an iconic Prime Minister musing over the best way to store your books and an illustrious US President explaining the best works to read outdoors. Enjoy serious speculations on the psychological implications of reading from a 19th-century philosopher, and less serious ones concerning the predicament of dispensing with unwanted volumes or the danger of letting children (the enemies of books) near your collection. The many facets of book-mania are pondered and celebrated with both sincerity and irreverence in this lively selection of essays, poems, lectures, and commentaries ranging from the 16th to the 20th century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780712352864
Publisher:	British Library Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2019
Edition description:	None
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Alex Johnson is a professional blogger and journalist, part of the Independent's online team. Alex runs shedworking.co.uk, which inspired the book Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution; themicrolife.co.uk; and onthebookshelf.co.uk, which was published as Bookshelf. He is also the author of A Book of Book Lists, Book Towns, and Improbable Libraries.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

The Enemies of Books William Blades (1881) 5

Should children be allowed near your shelves?

Unpacking My Library Walter Benjamin (1931) 11

The joys of book collecting and our relationship with books

A Lesson in Fiction Stephen Leacock (1910) 27

Witty Q&A guide to the modern novel

Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading Charles Lamb (1822)

The decorum of reading, books' appearances, and outdoor vs indoor reading

Books for Holidays in the Open Theodore Roosevelt (1916) 51

What a US President packs for alfresco reading

Bibliomania John Ferriar (1809) 67

A poem about the delights (and dangers) of enjoying the printed word

The Uses of Reading Rudyard Kipling (1912) 79

Why books are necessary for leading a good life

On Books and Reading Arthur Schopenhauer (1851) 105

How and who not to read

On Books and the Housing of Them W.E. Gladstone (1890) 121

Prime Ministerial advice on how to store one's library properly

Of Studies Francis Bacon (1601) 149

Being an explanation of the ways in which books maketh man

On Destroying Books J.C. Squire (1919) 155

An extreme way to downsize your library