Book Was There

Much ink has been spilled lamenting or championing the decline of printed books. In Book Was There, Andrew Piper shows that the rich history of reading itself offers unexpected clues to what lies in store for books - print or digital. From medieval manuscript books to today's interactive urban ficti [...]
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Much ink has been spilled lamenting or championing the decline of printed books. In Book Was There, Andrew Piper shows that the rich history of reading itself offers unexpected clues to what lies in store for books - print or digital. From medieval manuscript books to today's interactive urban fictions, Piper explores the manifold ways that physical media have shaped how we read. In doing so, he uncovers the intimate connections we develop with our reading materials-how we hold them, play with them, and even where we read them - and shows how reading is interwoven with our experiences in life. Piper reveals that reading's many identities, past and present, on page and on screen, are the key to helping us understand the kind of reading we care about and how new technologies will - and will not-change old habits. Contending that our experience of reading belies naive generalizations about the future of books, Book Was There is an elegantly argued and thoroughly up-to-date tribute to the endurance of books in our ever-evolving digital world.