Books like What We Talk About When We Talk About Books by Leah Price

During World War II, a foster girl in Nazi Germany steals books to share with neighbors and a hidden Jewish man, proving literature’s power to nourish the soul amid darkness.

Francine Prose shows how studying great writers—from Dostoyevsky to Joyce—reveals the craft of storytelling, urging readers to analyze language and technique in order to improve their own writing.

Matthew Battles chronicles the rise and fall of libraries—from Alexandria to the digital age—showing how they preserve, shape, and sometimes destroy knowledge.

Terry Eagleton guides readers through the art of literary analysis, exploring how tone, rhythm, texture, syntax, allusion, and ambiguity shape meaning across works from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling.

A renowned cognitive neuroscientist's fascinating and highly informative account of how the brain acquires readingHow can a few black marks on a white page evoke an entire universe of sounds and meanings? In this riveting investigation, Stanislas Dehaene provides an accessible account of the brain circuitry of reading and explores what he calls the "reading paradox": Our cortex is the product of millions of years of evolution in a world without writing, so how did it adapt to recognize words? Reading in the Brain describes pioneering research on how we process language, revealing the hidden logic of spelling and the existence of powerful unconscious mechanisms for decoding words of any size, case, or font.Dehaene's research will fascinate not only readers interested in science and culture, but also educators concerned with debates on how we learn to read, and who wrestle with pathologies such as dyslexia. Like Steven Pinker, Dehaene argues that the mind is not a blank slate: Writing systems across all cultures rely on the same brain circuits, and reading is only possible insofar as it fits within the limits of a primate brain. Setting cutting-edge science in the context of cultural debate, Reading in the Brain is an unparalleled guide to a uniquely human ability.

In "Patience and Fortitude," Nicholas Basbanes takes us through his discoveries of some of the greatest libraries of the world--from Alexandria to Glastonbury--and then on to the Vatican,Wolfenbüttel, and erudite universities.

Why We Read What We Read examines the patterns in nearly 200 bestselling books, revealing how recurring themes—diet, wealth, morality, spirituality, love, and redemption—reflect our beliefs and social interactions.

A richly pictorial guide showcasing over 75 celebrated and rare books and manuscripts, exploring their purpose, creators, and cultural impact.