The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future
ISBN:9781586488260 read summary

This book is a collection of essays about books. Darnton is enthralled about the possibilities of Google Books, because it has the potential of providing a worldwide library available to all those with access to the internet, but he is also concerned with Google being a monopoly, and he is realistic about copyright holders who may think twice about wanting to make all of their books available online without reasonable compensation.

Darnton is not worried about the future of books in codex form, since it will be very difficult for modern technology to make something easier and more portable and convenient than an actual bound book. He envisions a world where there will be an increasing variety of ways to access information.

Darnton is an 18th century European scholar, and this comes through in some of the essays. He shows how even journalists from that era wrote stories that were based on faulty fact finding, just as internet bloggers are often accused of today.

The essays in The Case for Books are placed in reversed chronological order, but they show how well Darnton has been able to see into the future of books. The last essay is of value because it provides a powerful proposal for schools to consider the history of books as an area worthy of study.

This book is well worth reading, and it will make you love books more, both bound and unbound.

The Case for the Book is a collection of essays on books, their history and their future. Some of the topics discussed are digital books (e-books), Google Book Search, improvements in the written word, and the academic study of books, including being bibliographical, the mysteries of reading and the history of the book. I found the book to be fascinating, full of interesting facts I did not know. The book is written for the adult reader and it will help if you have some knowledge of literature. After reading the book I wanted to know more, which is something I like in any book. I hope that the author, Robert Darnton will do a follow up book with a few historical illustrations.

This is not a review of the substance of this book but rather is a quick comment on the actual book itself. The back of the dust jacket contains a glaring typographical error: "the power that Johannes Gutenberg unvleashed more than five centuries ago." Clearly the word that was intended was "unleashed." While typos are to be found everywhere, it's ironic, I think, that this book in particular - a book on the status and future of publishing - should inadvertently provide an example of poor production values in book publishing today. I hope publishing has a robust future - and I hope that publishers remember that they need proofreaders.

I bought this book after seeing Darnton on Book-TV. It's nice to have his words captured in codex form. The book is thoughtful and hopeful in tone with lots of hard data, but be prepared for a bit of repetition and a lot of attention to Darnton's pet electronic book project. All in all, a must have for those who hope the book will endure in the electronic age.

In this book of highly enjoyable essays, Robert Darnton explores the printed page vs the coming digital revolution. Will the book as we have know it survive and what will be the effect on society if it doesn't? Darnton's approach is thoughtful and timely, giving the earnest lover of books plenty to ponder over. This is a book about books. I highly recommend it.