Books on Fire The Tumultuous Story of the World's Great Libraries

Here is a magisterial history of the destruction of knowledge over the millennia. Hugely impressive in scope, Polastron's book takes the reader on a journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern times, showing how the urge to write, read and collect books has always gone hand in hand with the impulse to destroy them. This investigation also reveals a new danger facing libraries today with the digitalization of books threatening both the existence of the physical book and the very idea of reading for free.