Library: an Unquiet History.LIBRARY: AN UNQUIET HISTORY. Matthew Battles. 2003. Read by Grover Gardner. 6 cds, No time listed, Books on Tape. 0-73669835-3. $72.00. Vinyl; content notes. A Battles has put together a most entertaining history of libraries from the time of cuneiform cuneiform (ky  nē`ĭfôrm) [Lat.,=wedge-shaped], system of writing developed before the last centuries of the 4th millennium B.C. chiseling on blocks of stone in the Middle East to imperial China's collections to today's electronically cataloged mega-collections. Choosing his examples and anecdotes with amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. aptitude, he entertains librarians and library aficionados with stories of libraries and collections and the destruction of both in ancient and modern times and in the time between. He explores ideas concerning what should be collected, how the books should be organized, the design of libraries, who should be the librarians, and who should have access to the libraries. Battles introduces his listeners to a far more complex Dewey than most of them knew existed and stuns with an in-depth account of how it happened that some 100 million books were burned in Germany in 1933. Mercifully mer·ci·ful adj. Full of mercy; compassionate: sought merciful treatment for the captives. See Synonyms at humane. mer , he does hot touch on the censorship censorship, official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order. It may be imposed by governmental authority, local or national, by a religious body, or occasionally by a powerful private group. battles in the US in recent years. Gardner reads Gardner Read (born January 2, 1913 in Evanston, Illinois; died November 10, 2005 in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts) was an American composer and musical scholar. with a fine rich voice, guiding his listeners generously through a story less known to most librarians than it should be. Edna Boardman, Bismarck, ND |
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