Rating: 
Summary: A Magpie's Nest of Bookish Treats
Review: "A History of Reading" is an eclectic collection of essays on books, bibliophiles, bibliophobes, bibliokleptomanes, printing, translation, censorship, reading glasses and the Heian period in Japan. A browser's delight, it can also be devoured in a single sitting (guilty). From reading aloud to reading silently and from the physical pleasures of a book's shape, binding and smell to the less corporeal qualities of books that prompted Pinochet's Chile to ban "Don Quixote" as subversive, Alberto Manguel's bibiomanic panorama is a thoroughly enjoyable celebration of one of life's greatest pleasures. In it, the reader will encounter Callimachus of Cyrene, who worked in the "vanished library" of Alexandria and laid the foundations for what we know today as the library catalogue; compare and contrast the difffering approaches to public readings of Charles Dickens and Pliny the Younger; and decide once and for all whether it is preferable to read lying down or at a desk. Tolle, lege!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent history of a magical process.
Review: A strange thing, reading. It doesn't immediately strike one as THE easiest subject on which to write a history, but Alberto Manguel does a wonderful job tracing reading from Sumerian stone tablets to contemporary computers. The guy seems to know as much as any ten people. He's taken a very private act and made it public, in the process creating not only a history of reading but a history of thinking as well. This is a great book to read late at night. One slips into it like a warm bath. Anyone who doesn't smile at the section in which the young Manguel reads to the blind Borges doesn't deserve to own books
Rating:
Summary: make "time" to read this book.
Review: Any lover of books and reading will love the time spent here in these pages. "Time" is often the reason many people give for NOT reading. Others often feel guilty about the actual amount of time that they gladly devote to reading. I admit that I am of this latter group. Reading Manguel's book puts it all in perspective... makes me fall in love with the printed word all over again, and helps me to realize that I am part of a long line of splendour... that there is indeed, a wonderful history of those who have loved reading and/or writing books.His book is an excellent thematic study; the erudite gleanings of seven years of research, and chockfull of the personal touch of a lifetime of being profoundly bookish. Along with vignettes of his personal acquaintance with Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges, there are very insightful passages on Franz Kafka, Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke and many other greats. I remember being surprised that Manguel (a Canadian resident since 1982) was not even shortlisted for the Governor General's award for this book... but then later on it won one of the world's most prestigious of awards, France's Prix Medicis... and all was well with the world. It's a beautifully written book. It fortifies my conviction that if I'm ever too busy to be a READER... then I'm definitely too busy, and something's gotta go!
Rating:
Summary: make "time" to read this book.
Review: Any lover of books and reading will love the time spent here in these pages. "Time" is often the reason many people give for NOT reading. Others often feel guilty about the actual amount of time that they gladly devote to reading. I admit that I am of this latter group. Reading Manguel's book puts it all in perspective... makes me fall in love with the printed word all over again, and helps me to realize that I am part of a long line of splendour... that there is indeed, a wonderful history of those who have loved reading and/or writing books. His book is an excellent thematic study; the erudite gleanings of seven years of research, and chockfull of the personal touch of a lifetime of being profoundly bookish. Along with vignettes of his personal acquaintance with Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges, there are very insightful passages on Franz Kafka, Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke and many other greats. I remember being surprised that Manguel (a Canadian resident since 1982) was not even shortlisted for the Governor General's award for this book... but then later on it won one of the world's most prestigious of awards, France's Prix Medicis... and all was well with the world. It's a beautifully written book. It fortifies my conviction that if I'm ever too busy to be a READER... then I'm definitely too busy, and something's gotta go!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoy!
Review: I didn't really like the inclusion of the author's personal anecdotes - there was so much other fascinating information. Excellent chapters include "Reading the future" and "The Translator as Reader", pp. 311-312 has the most affecting quote (from Virginia Woolf) about readers on the Day of Judgement and God says to St Peter "we have nothing to give them. They have loved reading".
Rating:
Summary: Contagious!
Review: If reading is a disease then this book will give it to you. Manguel's insights and passion for this remarkable human experience will keep you glued to the page.
Rating:
Summary: A True Companion
Review: It is wonderful to read about a subject that you value so much written by someone who feels the same way. The value for me, however, was the prism Manguel offers through which reading is separated into a variety of dazzling colors. I enjoyed the history, the anecdotes, his personal experiences, and his ability to carry a thread from our earliest ancestors desire to understand the written word to the present. His references caused me to visit the library and bookstores once again and enjoy authors that I had either forgotten or with whom I was not yet familiar. It is a book I will recommend frequently to anyone I know who loves reading.
Rating:
Summary: You are sure to learn something
Review: Manguel has done a wonderful job of capturing the many fascinating aspects of reading from the neurological (just what is reading, what our eyes and brains do), to the evolution of reading out loud to 'silent' reading, to the history of some of the great collections of the world, and much, much more. This really is a great book, that I would recommend to anyone who loves to read, as you are sure to find something of interested, and undoubtedly something you did not know previously. The title is a *little* misleading, in that it is not a straight chronological historical study. My only quibble would be that the approach at times can be a little too scatter-gun, but perhaps that is part of the charm - it is like a fascinating rambling conversation about every bibliophiles favourite topic.
Rating: 
Summary: Just another book about books.
Review: Read this book with high expectations after reading the mostly very high ratings.I've read others of this type and find they are usually written with an attitude that unless it was written in europe,by some antisocial misfit,and endorsed by some group of self praising egotists;then it is'nt worth talking about.This kind of attitude is rampant in scholarly and literary circles and tends to turn off readers.This book had a lot of stuff;but little to inspire one to read.This same attitude in another area such as Medicine, would have us seeking out barber poles and leeches.An open mind is essential in all the Arts.In the words of Andre Maurois "In literature,as in love,we are astonished at what is chosen by others.".
Rating:
Summary: you will be stared at reading this in public
Review: The reader is taken from an old bookstore in Buenos Aires to the ancient Mesopotamia by way of Rome all in one paragraph. Hemmed to the history of reading are annecdotes and information of the strangest variety. I enjoyed the format of the book. It has a "poster/middle page" that shows a timeline of the history of reading; that alone is worth the price of the book.
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