"Reading should not have to be explained; a book should not have to be defended," writes Eric Burns. But today when "people don't read much anymore," millions are turning to computer software and audiotape to inspire through technology what once came from the curious mind of a dedicated reader.
Are we in danger of becoming apathetic spectators in the marketplace of ideas? Is the special relationship between readers and the authors of great literature doomed to he little more than a distant memory? Burns's compelling yet accessible history of the reading experience rejoices in the diverse motivations and methods in the developing relationship between readers and writers even as he voices concern at the powerful forces of ignorance and censorship that seek to keep them apart.
The Joy of Books is a passionate attempt to capture for some and rekindle in others the fascination, the exuberance, and the sheer joy of reading. With humour and delightful anecdotes it offers vivid proof that to experience the beauty and power of the written word one need only open a good book.
Eric Burns, writer, lecturer, and media consultant, is a former news correspondent for NBC. He is the author of Broadcast Blues: Dispatches from the Twenty-Year War Between a Television Reporter and His Medium.
207 pages Publication date 30th May, 1996