An edition of A history of reading (1996)

A history of reading

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Cover of: A history of reading by Alberto Manguel, Alberto Manguel
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  • ★★★★ 4.0 (1 rating)
  • 72 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 5 Have read
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Last edited by vivienne
May 7, 2025 | History
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An edition of A history of reading (1996)

A history of reading

by

  • ★★★★ 4.0 (1 rating)
  • 72 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 5 Have read

At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. Noted essayist Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the 6000-year-old conversation between words and that magician without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel lingers over reading as seduction, as rebellion, as obsession, and goes on to trace the never-before-told story of the reader's progress from clay tablet to scroll, codex to CD-ROM.

Publish Date
Publisher
Penguin Books
Language
English
Pages
372

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Previews available in: French English

Subjects

History, Reading, Books and reading, Lezen, Boeken, Histoire, books, Geschichte, Livres et lecture, Lesekultur, open_syllabus_project, Books and reading, history, Lecture, Livre, Lecture, Goût de la, Literature, history and criticism, Books, history

Showing 5 featured editions. View all 35 editions?

Edition Availability
Cover of: Une histoire de la lecture
Une histoire de la lecture
2000, Actes Sud
in French
Cover of: Une histoire de la lecture
Une histoire de la lecture
January 1, 1998, Actes Sud
Paperback
Cover of: A history of reading
A history of reading
1997, Penguin Books
Paperback in English
Cover of: A history of reading
A history of reading
1996, Viking
in English - 1st American ed.
Cover of: A history of reading
A history of reading
1996, A.A. Knopf Canada
in English - 1st Canadian ed.

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Book Details

Table of Contents

The Last Page.
The Last Page. 3
Acts of Reading.
Reading Shadows. 27
The Silent Readers. 41
The Book of Memory. 55
Learning to Read. 67
The Missing First Page. 85
Picture Reading. 95
Being Read To. 109
The Shape of the Book. 125
Private Reading. 149
Metaphors of Reading. 163
Powers of the Reader.
Beginnings. 177
Ordainers of the Universe. 187
Reading the Future. 201
The Symbolic Reader. 213
Reading within Walls. 225
Stealing Books. 237
The Author as Reader. 247
The Translator as Reader. 261
Forbidden Reading. 279
The Book Fool. 291
Endpaper Pages.
Endpaper Pages. 309
Notes. 321
Index. 361

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Library of Congress
Z1003

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Pagination
[12], 372 p. :
Number of pages
372

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL21392964M
ISBN 10
0140166548
ISBN 13
9780140166545
OCLC/WorldCat
37823792
LibraryThing
2968
Goodreads
53085

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL11277865W

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May 7, 2025 Edited by vivienne //covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/15016682-S.jpg
May 7, 2025 Edited by vivienne Update covers
December 30, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
November 18, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
November 2, 2008 Created by ImportBot Imported from University of Toronto MARC record