Download Library: An Unquiet History Audiobook

" Interesting but dry at the same time. "

" Reading for the 000 portion of the Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge. "

" I really liked it. I read most of it at work, and I got quite a few comments. One of the librarians I work with thought the title was hilarious. It was interesting to read about the origins of the library and how it works though. It makes me miss the card catalog that much more. "

" This book gave some interesting history of the library. I especially liked the parts chronicling the different formats information was stored in before the codex (book) was invented. However, the author moved from topic to topic in a very haphazard and unorganized way (kind of ironic considering this person is a librarian - I guess we're not all organized...) "

" When you're a book person, even a flaky one like me, you usually end up with a library fixation. Matthew Battles, who works at Harvard's Houghton Library, ended up doing something useful with his by tracing the history of the library through the centuries. In the process, we find some interesting things about the guardians of knowledge and the ways they try to steer the course of things. The chapter on Nazi librarians is especially fascinating. "

" Not as good as it could have been, and definitely skewed toward the history of libraries in the Ancient World and the Far East. Not a single mention of Dr. William Pepper, who created the first free and public library in the U.S. (Philadelphia), though Boston and New York Public are included. The book was less of a narrative history and more of a dissertation, the point of which seemed to be to include as many bits of general history as possible into each chapter. The result was fairly disjointed work about the role of libraries in the intellectual dialogue throughout history. "

" meh, some good factoids, but relentlessly nerdy "

" A short history of the library as a concept and a reality. Very well written and entertaining. It held my interest all of the way through. "

" The heart of this book is -- an exploration of libraries and how the institution has evolved over the years -- is certainly worthwhile but Battles' philosophically-inspired prose becomes a huge anchor on the material he presents. "

" So much of the "unquiet" part is book-burning and library destruction that it made this book-lover weep. "

" Read for LIS class. "

" Yes, two stars. It was ok. The library's place in history is riveting but you wouldn't know it from this book. "

" I mean... Battles ends the book wondering where the Library of Congress is going to assign the call number for his book. Delightfully geeky. "

" Hard to follow at times but fun to read. "

" The bit about the geniza was worth the price of the book alone. Very interesting "

" A cultural history of the world. Well done. Held my interest. "

" I found the content very interesting but prefer books detailing the history of a subject to be more linear. "

" Library by Matthew Battles (2004) "

" I'm not much of a nonfiction reader, but it was interesting learning about the history of libraries. "

" I appreciate the academics of the rendering.Someone has to get this message out I think Matthew missed
an opportunity.
Library read "

" I found the content very interesting but prefer books detailing the history of a subject to be more linear. "

" Read for LIS class. "

" Had to read it for class. A pretty interesting history of the library. Battles tends to name=drop a bit though. "

" Hmmm, skipped through a lot, was a bit boring in places, but then other parts were really interesting and well written, bit of a mixed bag this one. Maybe i'm just not used to reading nonfiction for pleasure and am judging it on an unfair criteria. Just 2 stars, it was ok. "

" Interesting general history book on libraries...... "

" The bit about the geniza was worth the price of the book alone. Very interesting "