At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. Noted essayist Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the 6000-year-old conversation between words and that magician without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel lingers over reading as seduction, as rebellion, as obsession, and goes on to trace the never-before-told story of the reader's progress from clay tablet to scroll, codex to CD-ROM.
Used. Good condition. Some wear and tear. Some damage to the bottom right corner of the front corner, the bottom right corners of the pages, the top right front corner of the front cover, the top right corners of the pages near the front, the top, and the bottom of the book. Sharpie mark on the top of the book. Sticker on the spine from previous seller. Price marked in pencil.