Just Finished Reading: The Secret Life of Books – Why They Mean More Than Words by Tom Mole (FP: 2019) [225pp]  

Most books about books (a rather favourite sub-genre of mine) concentrate on authors lives, cultural impacts of great works, or critical appreciation (or otherwise) of writing styles. This book looked at something different – the books themselves rather than what is contained between their covers. To be honest it was a bit of a shock at first. It took me a while to get my head around an exploration of books that didn’t look, at least to an extent, at the words they contained. But as the book progressed, I started to see what the author was getting at and it started me thinking about, and looking at, books in subtly different ways.  

Funnily, I have often thought of books as more than simply words on a page and have voiced this idea more than once – mostly to the consternation of my friends. One of the things I’ve never bought myself, and honestly have hardly ever considered, is a Kindle or other electronic reading device. This is despite the fact that I’m drowning in physical books and I have real concerns about the structural integrity of floors – much like an early example in this book where the authors University tutor had to be persuaded to reduce his book holdings after the University had a structural engineer look over his office. A good part of that reluctance is the philosophical opinion that a book downloaded onto a Kindle isn’t ‘really’ a book. Sure, it’s the same words in the same order as the physical copy but does that make it a book? I’d say ‘no’. Books are more than that. Interestingly the author, and some of his references, back me up.  

Especially before the invention of printing – though for quite a while afterwards too – books were both very expensive and very personal. Books were produced to order and, in many ways, personalised to their owners. Bibles especially were created to last generations and be used, not only as methods of religious instruction but as ways to bind families together over time – recording births, deaths and other important family events. Much as I dislike the idea of people writing in books, this was a way of both personalising an often mass-produced book and as a way of recording thoughts, ideas and commentary on the original text. The book became a living document rather than the remnants of a dead tree.  

Books have often been seen as status symbols. At first this was due to their cost and rarity. It also showed that at least someone in the house was educated enough to read – Latin, Greek, Arabic or, later, the local vernacular. Even today, carrying a book (especially outside an academic environment) can be seen as a, sometimes hopeful, sign of intelligence, of someone with an enquiring mind or someone ‘up’ on what’s popular with the Facebook generation. Openly carrying a certain book can signal that you’re a rebel, a free thinker, pious, a conservative, a liberal. It signals to others that you are part of a group – either theirs or a member of their (potential) opposition. Books are cultural shorthand and so much more.   

Some of the things in this slim volume were so obvious that I’d hardly thought of them or given them much consideration. Other things made me look at books and book readers in different ways – both subtle and profound. Both themes opened my eyes a little more to seeing books more than simply words on a page. An interesting ‘sideways’ look at books. Recommended for all book lovers.  

Oh, and my favourite quote from this book: “Books on the shelves are sandbags stacked against the floodwaters of forgetting.” Very poetic!