ThoughtGallery.org > Bibliography Week Lecture: What We Talk About When We Talk About Books

Bibliography Week Lecture: What We Talk About When We Talk About Books

Digital-age readers find their minds wandering from anything longer than a tweet. As our appetite for books dwindles, we fear for the virtues in which we imagine that printed, bound objects once trained us: the patience to immerse ourselves in an imagined world, the curiosity to look beyond the day’s news, even the willingness to be alone.

However, touching and smelling objects on the shelves of the world’s great libraries convinced book historian and Rutgers professor Leah Price that no golden age of reading ever existed. From the dawn of mass literacy to the invention of the paperback, most readers skimmed and multitasked. Print-era doctors warned against the very same solitary absorption now recommended as a cure for electronic addictions. Printed books pioneered new technologies and new marketing strategies. That tradition continues as librarians, booksellers, and booklovers find ways to reinvent the book once more.

In this talk, Price will explore how readers have interacted with books over the centuries, and how bibliophiles and literature lovers can learn from their experiences.











When: Sat., Jan. 25, 2020 at 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Where: The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Ave.
212-822-7200
Price: Free; advance registration required.
Buy tickets/get more info now
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Digital-age readers find their minds wandering from anything longer than a tweet. As our appetite for books dwindles, we fear for the virtues in which we imagine that printed, bound objects once trained us: the patience to immerse ourselves in an imagined world, the curiosity to look beyond the day’s news, even the willingness to be alone.

However, touching and smelling objects on the shelves of the world’s great libraries convinced book historian and Rutgers professor Leah Price that no golden age of reading ever existed. From the dawn of mass literacy to the invention of the paperback, most readers skimmed and multitasked. Print-era doctors warned against the very same solitary absorption now recommended as a cure for electronic addictions. Printed books pioneered new technologies and new marketing strategies. That tradition continues as librarians, booksellers, and booklovers find ways to reinvent the book once more.

In this talk, Price will explore how readers have interacted with books over the centuries, and how bibliophiles and literature lovers can learn from their experiences.

Buy tickets/get more info now