What We Talk About When We Talk About Books

The History and Future of Reading

By: Leah Price

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

Reports of the death of reading are greatly exaggerated Do you worry that you've lost patience for anything longer than a tweet? If so, you're not alone. Digital-age pundits warn that as our appetite for books dwindles, so too do the virtues in which printed, bound objects once trained us: the willpower to focus on a sustained argument, the curiosity to look beyond the day's news, the willingness to be alone. The shelves of the world's great libraries, though, tell a more complicated story. Examining the wear and tear on the books that they contain, English professor Leah Price finds scant evidence that a golden age of reading ever existed. From the dawn of mass literacy to the invention of the paperback, most readers already skimmed and multitasked. Print-era doctors even forbade the very same silent absorption now recommended as a cure for electronic addictions. The evidence that books are dying proves even scarcer. In encounters with librarians, booksellers and activists who are reinventing old ways of reading, Price offers fresh hope to bibliophiles and literature lovers alike.

Winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award, 2020

Critic reviews

"Price's book-unlike other examples of what she calls 'autobibliography'-is funny and hopeful, rather than dour and pious...What We Talk About When We Talk About Books is an enjoyable tour, full of surprising byways into historical arcana."—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

"[Price] is not an elegist for print: her extraordinary grasp of every development in book history, from incunabula to beach reads, monasteries to bookmobiles, suggests that a love of printed matter need not be a form of nostalgia...Her radiant descriptions of the physical properties of books, the forensic traces-from smudges to candle wax-of earlier bodies holding them, immediately sent me to the Internet..."—Dan Chiasson, New Yorker

"A witty, tonic rebuttal to the latest round of doomsday prognostications about the fate of literature."—Wall Street Journal

"Price's premise, that there truly was no golden age of reading that we should be trying to get back to, is presented with humor and charm...Those still worried that technology has spoiled their attention span shouldn't be."—Booklist

"Predictions of the death of the book weren't only greatly exaggerated; as Leah Price notes in What We Talk About When We Talk About Books, they were old news. The book has survived numerous death sentences in the past, and this time, as before, it's been the occasion to reinvent old practices of reading. What the Victorians called "furniture books" continue to adorn coffee tables and the Ikea shelves widened to accommodate them. People still hold books in their laps on couches and in coaches (enjoying the "library atmosphere" of Amtrak quiet cars). Self-help books have their roots the "bibliotherapy" proposed a century ago. It is still a very bookish world that we inhabit, and I know of no guide to it more witty and engaging than Leah Price, whose insights, erudition, and apercus had me dog-earing every other page."—Geoff Nunberg, resident linguist, NPR's Fresh Air

"Eye-opening and filled with delightful nuggets of truth, What We Talk About When We Talk About Books offers no nostalgia for a more tranquil reading past but rather a hopeful glimpse into an essential reading future."—BookPage

"A deeply researched and deeply fun-to-read reassurance that there is still hope for books-and that there always has been."—Shelf Awareness

"Price combines a lighthearted romp through literary history with a serious intent: to argue that the rise of e-texts is not the radical change often claimed...Provides welcome comfort that the beloved book is in good shape, regardless of the form it ultimately takes."—Publishers Weekly

Unique perspective on the topic with great quality content

i enjoyed and appreciate the thoughtfulness and witty style of the author's writing. Sometimes i would get annoyed with what i thought was an overly simplistic but highly creative description to references of other work or bits of history, only to pause and reflect on it and realize i almost missed the point or hidden meaning. i actually enjoy some of those delayed or laggy realizations, but if it happens a lot then it likely means its due to my own limitations. All in all, very enjoyable and entertaining book on books.

Wasn't a fan.

I would have enjoyed it more if the author didn't make political assumptions. I'm so tired of that.

Would help if the editor would have lessened the frequent word usages. (Author really likes the word 'eponymous.')

Reader was great.