Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The invention of writing was one of the most important technological, cultural, and sociological breakthroughs in human history. With the printed book, information and ideas could disseminate more widely and effectively than ever before -- and in some cases, affect and redirect the sway of history. Today, nearly one million books are published each year. But is the era of the book as we know it -- a codex of bound pages -- coming to an end? And if it is, should we celebrate its demise and the creation of a democratic digital future, or mourn an irreplaceable loss? The digital age is revolutionizing the information landscape. Already, more books have been scanned and digitized than were housed in the great library in Alexandria, making available millions of texts for a curious reader at the click of a button, and electronic book sales are growing exponentially. Will this revolution in the delivery of information and entertainment make for more transparent and far-reaching dissemination or create a monopolistic stranglehold?

In The Case for Books , Robert Darnton, an intellectual pioneer in the field of the history of the book and director of Harvard University's Library, offers an in-depth examination of the book from its earliest beginnings to its shifting role today in popular culture, commerce, and the academy. As an author, editorial advisor, and publishing entrepreneur, Darnton is a unique authority on the life and role of the book in society. This book is a wise work of scholarship -- one that requires readers to carefully consider how the digital revolution will broadly affect the marketplace of ideas.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. vii)
• Google and the New Digital Future (p. xvii)
• Part I Future
• 1 Google and the Future of Books (p. 3)
• 2 The Information Landscape (p. 21)
• 3 The Future of Libraries (p. 43)
• 4 Lost and Found in Cyberspace (p. 59)
• Part II Present
• 5 E-Books and Old Books (p. 67)
• 6 Gutenberg-e (p. 79)
• 7 Open Access (p. 103)
• Part III Past
• 8 A Paean to Paper (p. 109)
• 9 The Importance of Being Bibliographical (p. 131)
• 10 The Mysteries of Reading (p. 149)
• 11 What Is the History of Books? (p. 175)
• Bibliography (p. 207)
• Index (p. 209)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Darnton (director, Harvard Univ. Lib.) gathers more than a decade's worth of his published work to address the essential issues surrounding the future of the book, from the genesis of ebooks and the opportunities of electronic text to early practices of book production and circulation and the nuances of reading. Darnton comes across most forcefully when he does more than just reintroduce the debate over the dangers and promises of a global digital library and instead shares instructive insights into the nature of information itself and the relationship of text to the reader. Core is his treatment of the Google Library Project and the settlement's importance. Darnton's personal opinion: digitize and democratize. Verdict These essays bring balance and a refreshing perspective to the nervous predictions over the future of print. Highly recommended for anyone with an investment in new media, libraries, literacy, and publishing.-Katharine A. Webb, Ohio State Univ. Libs., Columbus (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Is the age of the printed book coming to an end? If history is any guide, notes Harvard University Library director Darnton, not any time soon. In this collection of previously published essays, an "unashamed apology for the printed word," Darnton, an eloquent writer and one of the world's foremost historians of the book, offers a fascinating history of our literary past and a penetrating look at the disruptive forces shaping the future of publishing. Almost no topic is untouched, from the role of libraries to metadata, the print traditions of Europe, piracy old and new, Darnton's own forays into digital initiatives and the efficacy-even the beauty-of our changing literary landscape over centuries of development. This book clearly has a main character, however-Google. The search giant appears often. While the individual essays are brief, in sum, the book offers a deep dive into the evolution of the written and published word. Darnton offers little cover from the winds of change, but for book lovers and publishing professionals he offers the comfort that comes from understanding the past, and hope, as he places the Internet among a litany of disruptive innovations the book has survived. (Oct. 27) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Darnton is probably best known generally as the author of The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1984), but to librarians and information specialists, he is the director of the Harvard University Library and a strong advocate for reader access to both paper and electronic formats. Recently, Darnton became a player in Google's efforts to digitize the world's books. This volume comprises 11 articles from earlier venues, primarily The New York Review of Books, stretching over the last 18 years. Topics include the history of the book, the process of reading, the utility of bibliography, e-books, open access, and the future of libraries in the digital age. As always, Darnton's treatment is thought-provoking and nuanced, sometimes to a degree not easily digested by undergraduates. The Case for Books will be useful to libraries supporting programs in information science and librarianship as well as book history. Most of the material will already be available in these libraries, however, so the issue of convenience versus redundancy must be weighed. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates. P. L. Holmer Southern Connecticut State University

Booklist Review

Historian and library director Darnton has written expansively and lucidly on the history of books and libraries. This collection of his influential essays from the past decade neatly encapsulates one significant part of his immense legacy and contribution to intellectual history. This book's title may list epochs in their conventional order, but Darnton has organized these essays in reverse, beginning with the digitized future of cyberspace, moving back to present concerns about enhanced scholarly communication and programs for open access, and concluding with four trenchant reflections on paper publishing, scholarly bibliography, a brief history of books as manufactured and merchandised objects, and the rewards of reading. Every one of Darnton's essays reflects both his erudition and his good humor. Librarians, particularly those in colleges and research institutions, will find the ideas and propositions in these essays at once both familiar and provocative.--Knoblauch, Mark Copyright 2009 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Harvard University Library director Darnton (George Washington's False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide to the Eighteenth Century, 2003, etc.) offers measured essays on books, libraries and publishing. In pieces published in the New York Review of Books and elsewhere, Darnton focuses on the status of scholarly publishing and librarianship. Quoting a colleague who says that the latter is, perhaps surprisingly, tightly bound up in the world of money and power, the author notes that, for all the recent woes of the economy, a million new books are published each year around the worldbooks that have somehow to be put into the hands of readers. In that connection, Darnton, an eminent student of the Enlightenment and a good citizen of what that era called the Republic of Letters, considers the role of Google and its plan to scan the contents of the world's great libraries into digital form. On the face, he writes, making such a wealth of knowledge available to readers would appear to be a public good, and there are many reasons why a bibliophile and scholar should applaud such an enterprise. Yet, he adds, after evenhanded consideration of those pluses, "The more I learned about Google, the more it appeared to be a monopoly intent on conquering markets rather than a natural ally of libraries, whose sole purpose is to preserve and diffuse knowledge." The competing demands of public welfare and private profit occupy Darnton in several pieces, while others consider the still foggy realm of electronic publishing and the addition of value to the culture that people who work with books provide. The author also includes a few scholarly pieces on various aspects of the history of publishing ("Little is known about the way books reached bookstores from printing shops"), connected to the earlier pieces only incidentally but pleasing all the same. Of much interest to anyone with a stake in the developing Google settlement, as well as for fans of books about books. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.