"An absolute treasure.... Alberto Manguel has written a celebration of reading [that] has the impact of an elegy."
-The Globe and Mail

"Anyone who reads will be hooked right away: ...it is, after all, a history of ourselves, and a celebration of our favourite occupation."
-Margaret Visser

"Sweeping and personal, erudite and intimate, A History of Reading is an altogether charming book."
-Newsday

"A love letter written to reading."
-George Steiner, The New Yorker

"A remarkable achievement. I finished the book with a sense of gratitude to have shared this journey through time in the company of a mind so lively, knowledgeable and sympathetic."
-P.D. James, The Sunday Times

"A highly entertaining overview that leaves us with both a new appreciation for our own bibliomania and a deeper understanding of the role that the written word has played throughout history."
-The New York Times

"Awe-inspiring.... A fine anthology of things we are unlikely to have found, or ever to find, for ourselves."
-The Times Literary Supplement