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Burning the Books
Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack | Richard Ovenden
9 posts | 5 read | 6 to read
'Burning the Books is fascinating, thought-provoking and very timely. No one should keep quiet about this library history' IAN HISLOP Opening with the notorious bonfires of 'un-German' and Jewish literature in 1933 that offered such a clear signal of Nazi intentions, Burning the Books takes us on a 3000-year journey through the destruction of knowledge and the fight against all the odds to preserve it. Richard Ovenden, director of the world-famous Bodleian Library, explains how attacks on libraries and archives have been a feature of history since ancient times but have increased in frequency and intensity during the modern era. Libraries are far more than stores of literature, through preserving the legal documents such as Magna Carta and records of citizenship, they also support the rule of law and the rights of citizens. Today, the knowledge they hold on behalf of society is under attack as never before. In this fascinating book, he explores everything from what really happened to the Great Library of Alexandria to the Windrush papers, from Donald Trump's deleting embarrassing tweets to John Murray's burning of Byron's memoirs in the name of censorship. At once a powerful history of civilisation and a manifesto for the vital importance of physical libraries in our increasingly digital age, Burning the Books is also a very human story animated by an unlikely cast of adventurers, self-taught archaeologists, poets, freedom-fighters -- and, of course, librarians and the heroic lengths they will go to preserve and rescue knowledge, ensuring that civilisation survives. From the rediscovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the desert, hidden from the Romans and lost for almost 2000 years to the medieval manuscript that inspired William Morris, the knowledge of the past still has so many valuable lessons to teach us and we ignore it at our peril.
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review
shanaqui
Pickpick

There turned out to be quite a few things I hadn't read about yet, even though I read a similar book recently, so this was interesting and also new to me in the end.

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shanaqui

Swore to myself I would not start another book before I've finished one or two more that I have on the go, 'accidentally' picked up this one. Oops?

DivineDiana I know the feeling! 🤣 3y
Hooked_on_books I‘m fighting that same urge at the moment! 3y
13 likes2 comments
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Angeles
Pickpick

Great, and sad history, not only about when books and library burning have happened, but more important: Why.
I especially found enlightening the story about the burning of the library of Sarajevo, which I had not heard of. My criticism, the author spends a lot of time in talking about authors destroying their private letters/journals before dying. I believe authors don't owe us their private thoughts, and that is not burning books.

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Twocougs
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Pickpick

Fascinating history of human knowledge and what “we” have done with it.

24 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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StaceyKondla
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 250 #bookstoread #tbrpile #bookstagram

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Texreader
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39 likes1 stack add
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charl08
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How public libraries came to be in the UK.

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WanderingBookaneer
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63 likes1 stack add