What We Talk about When We Talk about Books: The History and Future of Reading by Leah Price
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I found it to be a delight to listen to this book out on a run, while realizing how I’ve incorporated more reading in my life through the ability of being able to listen simultaneously and get lost in a virtual world as I do in the real world by foot. For me, there were a few funny coincidences that I came across, one was talking about the book Too Much Happiness, which I planned to read this month for a bookclub, but it got cancelled due to the coronavirus concerns. The passage was about bilbiotherapy and misunderstanding the book’s title as a self-help book. The practice of doctors and psychiatrists prescribing books as part of a cure is not a bad thought at all. I do think that I owe a very large portion of my current healthy lifestyle through reading, something that I doubt would have happened if a doctor told me so. Another fun fact was concerning the very first edition of the vegetarian cookbook being made out of parchment, thus from dead animals. Gutenberg’s press was mostly used for single sheets indulgences, to reduce one’s sins. And not for printing bibles what I had always assumed, so lots of nuggets and overall it helped me appreciate how lucky I am to find myself in a time where one can read by listening. This book also discussed its uses, virtues and how it impacts communities small and large. In the future I would like to have a physical copy on my shelves.