When and where did the letters first appear? What is the delight of reading? Who taught camels to walk in alphabetical order? Is it true that one could be executed for his/her love of reading? Is reading a passion or a relaxation? The author sees reading as seduction, as rebellion, as obsession, and traces the previously untold story of how we moved from the clay tablet to the scroll, the codex, and eventually to hypertext. An endlessly fascinating, immersive exploration of what it means to be a reader, how to understand ourselves through what we read. Alberto Manguel (b. 1948) is a well-known Canadian cultural critic, writer, and director of the National Library of Argentina. Among the characters of his fascinating book are writers and philosophers, saints and ordinary mortals-lovers of reading and books.