出版社: Simon & Schuster
出版年: 2018-10-16
页数: 336
定价: GBP 21.53
装帧: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781476740188
内容简介 · · · · · ·
On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more tha...
On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?
Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.
In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.
Along the way, Orlean introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters from libraries past and present—from Mary Foy, who in 1880 at eighteen years old was named the head of the Los Angeles Public Library at a time when men still dominated the role, to Dr. C.J.K. Jones, a pastor, citrus farmer, and polymath known as “The Human Encyclopedia” who roamed the library dispensing information; from Charles Lummis, a wildly eccentric journalist and adventurer who was determined to make the L.A. library one of the best in the world, to the current staff, who do heroic work every day to ensure that their institution remains a vital part of the city it serves.
Brimming with her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks that reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country. It is also a master journalist’s reminder that, perhaps especially in the digital era, they are more necessary than ever.
作者简介 · · · · · ·
Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the author of seven books, including Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in upstate New York and may be reached at SusanOrlean.com and Twitter.com/SusanOrlean.
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The Library Book的书评 · · · · · · ( 全部 18 条 )
人类将自身的成长释放于图书馆中,而图书馆则默默的承载这些期望
《卫报》书评:当有人去世时,我们会说“他的图书馆被烧毁了”
一个当你不在家时就是家的地方
只要人类还存在,图书馆就不会消失。
> 更多书评 18篇
这本书的其他版本 · · · · · · ( 全部4 )
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文汇出版社 (2021)7.9分 377人读过
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時報出版 (2021)暂无评分 5人读过
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Simon & Schuster (2018)暂无评分 1人读过
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谁读这本书? · · · · · ·
二手市场
· · · · · ·
- 在豆瓣转让 有195人想读,手里有一本闲着?
订阅关于The Library Book的评论:
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1 有用 Nim Chimpsky 2018-11-27 13:36:13
For those who love library and books. Best non-fiction of 2018.
0 有用 別有用心美少女 2022-07-27 11:50:00
Illegal copy
2 有用 涤生 2019-02-13 10:43:54
Some chapters in the middle lost me a bit but overall a very interesting book! Once you pick it up it's hard not to finish.
0 有用 AlexanderG 2020-01-23 10:00:52
总体是一本讲图书馆的书,主线是洛杉矶主图书馆的火灾调查,但是包括了各种各样的支线 像是图书馆的历史, 图书馆的运作,工作人员以及各式各样的图书馆趣闻。 非常有意思,读起来也很轻松
0 有用 冮湖骗子 2022-11-04 10:01:26 广东
图书馆见证的百态人生。 通过这本书,三位女性管理员的任职让我看见了女性就业存在的歧视,让我义愤填膺;图书馆管被烧毁、志愿者们自发来帮忙让我看见人间的美好;图书馆的发展让我看见历史前进的痕迹;图书馆越来越多的功能让我看见未来的可能性。
0 有用 西瓜>芝麻 2023-06-20 11:32:14 美国
Mark第一本读完的有声书。围绕LA Central Library贯穿古今、旁枝错节的趣事还真不少, 学习了不少有的没的知识。Harry Peak的part是我最挂念的😝。辛苦作者了,能把这么多素材有机地串在一起写成书。
0 有用 冮湖骗子 2022-11-04 10:01:26 广东
图书馆见证的百态人生。 通过这本书,三位女性管理员的任职让我看见了女性就业存在的歧视,让我义愤填膺;图书馆管被烧毁、志愿者们自发来帮忙让我看见人间的美好;图书馆的发展让我看见历史前进的痕迹;图书馆越来越多的功能让我看见未来的可能性。
0 有用 別有用心美少女 2022-07-27 11:50:00
Illegal copy
0 有用 林雨 2022-04-08 23:28:10
原著真的设计很不错,图片也丰富。到中文版确实太low了
0 有用 Shallow 2022-01-15 10:14:33
学到了一些专用名词~