The Evolution of the Book
by Frederick G. Kilgour

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Book Reviews of The Evolution of the Book

Book Review: A good survey of the medium
Summary: 4 Stars

Kilgour divides the history of the book into several "punctuated equilibria." A term he stole from evolutionary biologists, this means points in time when major changes happened quickly. For example, when the codex came into existence, or when Gutenburg invented (for the West) printing. This is an effective method, as the reader gets a good deal of information on the important developments, and it's clear what is important.

However, Kilgour does include info on the minor changes that occurred in between, and these often turn into laundry lists. It's obvious from the structure of the book that these are not especially important, but they're there, anyway. And they get dull. My one other major criticism is that the book could use more pictures (e.g., Kilgour describes the Book of Kells, but a picture is worth 1000 words).

Overall, though, I recommend this book to someone looking for a complete and generally easy to follow history of the book.

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