The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our…

The Book is a fascinating survey of the history of the book. It is well written and manages to sprinkle direct facts with amusing anecdotes. I really enjoyed it. ( )

The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston is for book worms, book nerds and book lovers alike. It explores the history of the page (often paper) the text, illustrations and form. Some I was already familiar with like the making of paper but there were oodles of facts in history that I had not seen before. There is a section about Marco Polo coming to Chengdu China and being intrigued with the idea of paper money. Also an attempt to prevent forgery by putting the message that people would attempt forgery will be beheaded.

Each of the four sections of this book lead you journeys through history where you learn the complicated processes of making paper and the quest of the perfect materials for paper. Marco Polo was intrigued by the concept of paper money which was already being used in Chengdu when he visited it. It of course made for a much lighter load for the traveling merchants than heavy coins.

I was delighted to know that one of the books that my father gave me when I was twelve was a copy of the of most expensive book ever sold. I enjoyed learning about woodcuts, lithography and other methods for illustration. Since my father's grandfather illustrated children's books with those methods I was thrilled to learn the processes.

There is something for everyone in The Book, those were just a few things that popped out at me.

I highly recommend The Book for anyone wanting to know the history, process and developement of book making. ( )

A nicely-produced and well-written history of the book. Basic, but lively and chock full of interesting tidbits. Well done to Norton for lavishing so much attention on the design.