I had to DNF this book part way through. The portion that I did read it was an interesting book about libraries through history. A decent book if doing own research about this topic.

The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen is an engrossing and thorough exploration of the history of libraries, tracing their evolution from the ancient world to the digital age. The authors meticulously document the rise and fall of libraries, recounting the lives of antiquarians and philanthropists who painstakingly built the world’s great collections, and reveal the high stakes and occasional criminal acts involved in the pursuit of rare manuscripts. The authors effectively highlight the fragile nature of physical collections and the enduring resilience of the concept of the library.

Highlights of the book include detailed accounts of significant figures and events, such as Andrew Carnegie’s library philanthropy and the targeting of libraries during WWII. These sections provide a more focused and engaging narrative amidst the broader historical context.

Despite its Euro-centric perspective, The Library: A Fragile History offers a comprehensive and absorbing journey through the ages, celebrating the resilience and significance of libraries. For those passionate about books and the preservation of knowledge, this book is an essential addition to your personal library.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

The Library is an impressive and readable account of the development of the titular concept, from early days to its uncertain future. Pettegree and der Weduwen do a great job of making it readable and comprehensive, without being overly academic. That being said, though I'm impressed by the range of content in the book, it's difficult to learn when so many different facts and stories are thrown at you without much of a chance to pause and take it in. I spent quite a while in its pages, but I would only be able to reproduce a very small fraction and a vague sense of the smorgasbord of information on offer. It's an overwhelming banquet! For me, it was strongest when it would stay with one character or event for a longer period of time, such as in its coverage of Andrew Carnegie or the targeting of libraries during WW2.

An incredible number of sources and a huge story covering over a millennium is really well distilled into a mere 400 or so pages. The book is easier to read that in it has any real right to be (with pictures too!), but I suspect it will be a bit much for any reader who doesn't already have a strong grip on the history discussed.

DNF 40 pages

I was excited to read this book because it's a history of books. What's not to get excited about! This is clearly a well researched book because the author spared no details. It was very dense which made it difficult, and unfun, to read. I am 40 pages in and I have retained no real information about who or what was discussed, which is why I am DNF. I wish this was less dense, and not as dry because it would have an interesting book then.

As someone who has worked in a public library and once aspired to becoming a librarian, this was such an interesting book. I loved seeing the influence libraries and the people who run them have had on the world

I loved this book. So much so that having read the ebook, I’ve ordered a paper copy. This is the sort of book you should hold in paper and put on your library shelf. Even if your library is tiny. As you’ll learn reading this, all libraries start somewhere. The book has philosophy, psychology, politics, history, crime, sociology, cultural theory… it has heroes and real villains… it has laughter and it has quite a few tears. There is so much stuffed in here - never mind the extensive notes at the end.

Going from earliest history to the present day, this story evolves from private libraries of the wealthy through a time of few municipal libraries and many subscription libraries. I knew WH Smith had had a lending library but I’d no idea that Boots the chemist did or that it stocked a lot of Mills & Boon.

There is heartbreak through various wars when books are stolen, purloined, or destroyed. The scenes described of the Nazis destroying Jewish culture are genuinely heartbreaking because the knowledge and the continuity can never be replaced and book burners/pulpers know that. There have been a huge number of fires and floods that have damaged collections. But there are also heroes. People (mainly librarians) who stood up for books and for people’s right to read what they choose.

Some of the facts are fascinating. Manchester library opened in 1852 with Dickens and Thackeray present. They had 25,000 books and were visited by 4,841 people who borrowed an average of 20 books per year. In a Polish library, the books on politics were loaned 60 times, the books on trade unionism 3 times and 361 books on literature and drama were borrowed 1,633 times. I love this kind of information because I’m a nerd.

One heartbreaking fact is that after Glasnost in 1989, it was revealed the Soviet Union had 2.5million books they had confiscated ~ mainly from Germany ~ after the war. They had been piled up, unsorted in a church and had degenerated into unreadable mush.

The US Patriot Act requires libraries to give Homeland Security access to readers borrowing history on request. A new library built in San Francisco was three times the size of the old one but was totally inadequate in shelving and storage so upwards of 200,000 books were skipped. A sin indeed but the bigger sin was that no one listed which books were discarded or on what basis they had been chosen. Librarians were horrified and protesters turned up to rescue the books. It was found many were a single copy in the library system.

I agree with the authors that libraries will survive as long as we use them as they are the perfect place for reflection and for slow thinking. They also allow you to find books and authors you didn’t know you wanted to read. And in the current financial climate, they may be one of the few places people can go to stay warm as fuel bills rise to stupid levels.

I will definitely read this again and I applaud and thank the authors.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley

Books about libraries are in whether they are fiction or nonfiction doesn't really matter. With more and more national holidays focusing around libraries, library workers, books, and reading - books like these tend to become more than recommendations.

This book covers everything from Antiquarians to the history of reading trends. Its jam packed full of interesting tidbits for all book lovers and historians alike.

Sweeping History..
A sweeping history of the library in all its glory and dramatic turns. Clearly meticulous in research and extravagantly told. A major achievement which spans from the ancient world to the present day and encompassing collectors, criminals and antiquarians but so much more. Comprehensive and absorbing in equal measure. A perfect delve for bibliophiles everywhere.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Apologies to NetGalley and to the publisher, as this book was DNFed at 55%. I had such high hopes for this book. I love history and I love books, so a history book about books would seem like the epitome of perfection. And yet, this failed to encapsulate me. My dislike of the book relates to two main points.

First, it is very academic. I don't consider that a negative trait, especially given all the well written academic works that I have read. Unfortunately, this is one of those academic works that strives more to be academic than accessible. A history book, or any book honestly, needs a story, an arc to take the readers on. The introduction to this book hinted that there was such an arc within this work, but it turned out not to really be the case. This is less a story about books and more of a point by point laydown of historical events relating to books. It is extremely dull. The worse part about is that that kind of structure is so hard to follow and become engrossed in. When someone just states fact after fact, they all start to blend together, and I'm left with very little to actually take away. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of history here to learn. I just think it could have been told much more eloquently. I admit this is a personal preference, but my second point is more objective.

My second main point of issue with this book was its European fixed perspective. The book tells the history of libraries almost exclusively in Europe. Obviously, it starts with a discussion the Library of Alexandria in chapter one, and it alludes to other countries as well. However, the overarching narrative is focused heavily on Europe. If I didn't know better, I'd think Europe was the only continent to ever construct a book or a library. I did wonder if perhaps my difficulty to follow caused me to overlook discussions of other parts of the world or if they do it later in the book, so I did a search of the ebook. There is less than ten mentions of Africa or Asia outside the bibliography. I searched Europe, and it is mentioned hundreds of times. I am not saying history of libraries in Europe isn't uninteresting or a story not worth telling. However, this is a book advertised as a history of libraries from the ancient to today. "In this, the first major history of its kind, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen explore the contested and dramatic history of the library, from the famous collections of the ancient world to the embattled public resources we cherish today." That is not what we get, and it is misleading to suggest otherwise.

At the end of the day, this book feels esoteric and poorly written. It, like other history books I have read, advertises it as something more marketable despite it actually being more niche. What's worse is that niche topic isn't even told well.

This just isn't for me. 2/5 stars

Incredibly tedious. Overwhelmingly a census of who owned how many books when, with limited exploration or discussion of the wider context or value. Focused significantly on western libraries. I was also disappointed by the discussion of modern libraries - very dismissive and suspicious.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

a very interesting book all around library.
i personally love learning history and details about topics i enjoy -aka books and reading in this case- so k really enjoyed an entire book all about learning more about how, what and when libraries became what they are.

it’s a great book and i can only recommend it!

An exhaustive study of the “library” in all of its various forms in history, The Library: A Fragile History begins with a modern recreation of the library of Alexandria which tries to recapture some of the glory of that ancient site mentioned by early writers but completely lost to us. From there the book’s journey moves to early forms of texts on tablets, papyrus, leather, through history to the development of paper and printing. For libraries are inseparable from the written objects saved.

Initially, owning or perhaps even aspiring to having books was the world of rulers, of kings or princes, the very wealthy, perhaps traders. Others could not read and reading materials were beyond their knowledge. In fact, some of the wealthy wanted these early manuscripts or books as status markers for they couldn’t read either. Libraries were initially personal collections, often religious, in Western Europe written in Latin for centuries.

This is not a cursory glance or an overview. It is a caring, in depth exploration into the history of collecting words on whatever material was used by human kind. And then how these collections of materials containing words were organized or managed, be it in a box, a trunk or, eventually a shelf or shelves or a room or a building. This book is a different approach to history.

One caveat to consider whether this book is for you. The Library is intended for the reader who is interested in the minutiae of books and their history of collections, a reader who would enjoy learning of the details of collecting over the millennia and the people, collections and libraries involved.

Much of the material is Euro-centric but does address early eastern Mediterranean cultures and history. And in more recent centuries, it discusses the vast outreach of European nations through colonialism. The book moves up to the advent of the 21st century and the new digital world. The book is fully footnoted, with a bibliography.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

When most people thing of "the library," they think tend to think of your average small to medium sized community public library. However, as Pettegree and der Weduwen brilliantly chronicle here, what a library is has changed and grown throughout history in a fascinating evolution. Definitely a great selection for lovers of books and libraries!

3.5 stars for a solid and thorough history of libraries of the western world.

This book is largely focused on library history as opposed to library politics, which is why I liked it better than Susan Orlean’s The Library, which was well-crafted but almost exclusively devoted to the politics rather than the history of the library.

The Library takes us through the titular subject’s entire history as it relates to the western world, from the ancients to the modern library. Some sections are more detail-driven than others, and I found that those that were from a more micro perspective were the ones that I enjoyed most.

The postwar section of this book was my least favorite, as it’s largely driven by library politics, though it was certainly as well-researched and presented as the rest of the material.

The Library is definitely a book for lovers of books and libraries. The authors undertake a thoroughly researched history of libraries and topics related to libraries. The authors begin with the Library of Alexandria, stretching out to libraries in the digital age, and circling back to the current Library of Alexandria. I found the discussion on special edition books particularly interesting. Nobles used to gild pages in order to show wealth. Currently, many services offer sprayed pages or foiled covers to the public. It was interesting to look at the current trend through the history of how personal ownership of books and personal libraries grew.

Whereas this book is well-researched and thorough in its discussion of libraries, it is not an easy non-fiction read like Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City or Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook. At times, it came across as a dry reporting of the facts rather than engaging the reader in how things were in the past. I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books for the opportunity!

Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books for the chance to read a copy of this book!

I love libraries, but I'm afraid this massive tome was more than I could tackle. These days I tend more toward light genre fiction than to footnote-laden non-fiction, and while the introduction was intriguing, I could not keep up my focus as we progressed into the body of the book.

It was my pleasure to feature this title in my annal holiday gift books guide for The Globe & Mail national newspaper (Saturday Nov 20, 2021 print edition), also on AppleNews, organized thematically by giftee archetype. Feature online at related link.

A wealth of information…

Libraries have always held the information of the age and that still holds true today, even in the digital age. A refuge, a quiet place to learn and reflect, that also hasn’t changed. What this book gave was a deep dive into the subject – from how libraries formed, how the information they contained was created and stored (from papyrus onwards) to how it was collected, catalogued and managed.

I enjoyed that level of detail very much. From ancient to medieval times, the thirst for knowledge, and the need to record it was the springboard to what followed. From the creation of personal libraries sprang, many years later, the notion of public libraries. Nothing was considered too small or insignificant. And those details were covered all the way to modern times, including discussion on the current genres of the day and their significance.

What a wonderful treasure for anyone interested in books, reading and the impact they had on history and modern time. I had a temporary copy to read but will definitely have this one on my re-read shelf.

The Library: A Fragile History sets out to provide a survey history of the library in civilization. It is focused on "...one lesson from the centuries-long story of the library, it is that libraries only last as long as people find them useful." (Pg 21). Throughout it's chapters it explores the birth, expansion and destruction/ dispersal of many a collection and the libraries that held them.

In the telling of this history, The Library starts with the story of the Library of Alexandria, in both its modern attempted reincarnation and the ancient library. It then moves through the different developments in the history of libraries organized by era, technology, or popular perceptions of the written word. Readers will learn of the development of the book, its precursors, creation of manuscripts, the development of printing, how and why books were collected, the changing roles and purposes of libraries, and who would get to use them.

Pettegree and Weduwen are clearly very knowledgeable about this subject and share that knowledge in compact chapters and copious footnotes. While the narrative does explore the world history, it is overwhelming focused on Europe and latter chapters on the United States. Those looking for more of a global history of the book would be more enlightened by The History of the Book in 100 Books: The Complete Story, From Egypt to E-Book.

If anything this book shows that despite the challenges they've faced, the book will always accompany humans in one form or another, following our own cycles of foundation, growth, destruction and renewal.