What Is Reading For?
Bringhurst’s small pamphlets (always lovingly designed and printed) are among my favorite things. This one is, unsurprisingly, a full-throated defense of the book. It veers slightly into the uncanny valley in suggesting that oral traditions are comparable to written ones (the phrase “oral book” is apparently used without sarcasm), and succumbs to ignorance in its assertion that words on the screen can never be as meaningful as those in ink. But its assertiveness is a good reminder of how deep the love for books can go, and despite the author’s luddite leanings, how much that love can persist well past when the ink wells run dry.
