Book lovers will be irresistible in this fascinating journey into the history of books and their arrival in human hands. Emma Smith tells the fascinating and surprising story of books across time, nations, ideologies, and cultures in unpredictable ways, until this magical mythical object reaches our hands. Is it its physical form that gives it its distinctive and dangerous magic, as Stephen King describes it—a kind of portable magic, a magic that uniquely and innovatively leads us to a paradise of knowledge? The author takes us on an invaluable journey exploring the unexpected and unseen consequences of our relationship with paper objects, praising the rise of the paper book, deconstructing the myth that printing began with Gutenberg, exploring our reading habits, proposing new definitions of “classic,” and even the book itself. Ultimately, this book illuminates the ways in which our relationship with the written word has been shaped more complex than we can imagine. The author leads us through a journey full of wonderful excerpts and amazing facts about the history of writing tools and their enormous scope, with great intelligence and a kind of frank and amazing prose, until you reach the facts through this enjoyable journey in a lively and easy way.