Books about books – Scripturient

Review: The Design of Books

2024-07-02 2024-07-02 Books & Reviews / Books about books / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Like with so many other technologies in our lives — computers, cars, bread machines, flushing toilets, DVD players, convection ovens — most consumers don’t know or appreciate how books are made, or why they are made in such familiar shapes and structure. In more than four millennia since humans invented writing, the way that writing has been recorded and shared has evolved from clay tablets to the modern paperback and hardcover. Because we are so used to seeing and reading books, few of us stop … click below for more ↓

Why Jesus Won’t Answer Your Prayers

2023-03-26 2023-03-26 Books about books / Christianity / Language & Grammar / Meaning of words / Words & etymology2 Comments

Christians pray to Jesus, but get no reply. They pray to Jesus for parking spaces closer to the mall, to win the lottery, to make their boss disappear, to lose weight, to restore Donald Trump to his lost presidency, for their kids to win the little league game, for better business sales, and other really important stuff. And yet nothing ever happens. But would you respond if someone called you by another name? If your name was, say, Bob, or Sara, would you respond if … click below for more ↓

Musings on Haiku

2023-02-22 2023-02-22 Books about books / Daily life / Literary pretensions / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / PoetryLeave a comment

I can’t recall just when I first encountered haiku, that subtle, concise and often baffling Japanese poetry, but I suspect it was sometime in the late 1960s, not long after I was first introduced to Buddhism. I recall having the four-volume set of seasonal haiku by Blyth back in those days, but long since gone from my library for reasons I can no longer fathom. I’ve had several other books of haiku on my shelves since then, and turn to them to read now and … click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 2

2022-05-20 2022-05-24 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Fonts & Layout / Learning & Education / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Typography2 Comments

Last post I mentioned I had rescued a set of encyclopedias from the dumpster at the end of this year’s Mother Of All Yard Sales (MOAYS; an Optimist Club event). I didn’t explain what I saved and why, but I’m here to explain, and to show. Bear with me. First, let me give you some personal background. Aside from being a writer, in my career I have been a book editor for a Canadian publisher, a magazine editor for two Canadian magazines, and editor-designer-layout person … click below for more ↓

Milton Was Wrong

2022-04-07 2022-04-07 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Censorship / Media Issues / Political fads / Politics / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

In 1644, the English poet and pamphleteer John Milton wrote an impassioned defence of free speech (or, more factually, against censorship of print and in favour of restriction-free publication) called the Areopagitica. It was subtitled A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England. In it, Milton argued that, given the choice between truth and lies, people were wise enough to see what was true. And that people’s character grew stronger when presented with a wide variety … click below for more ↓

Musings on the First Tercet of Dante’s Inferno

2022-01-15 2022-01-31 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Classics / Poetry / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Back in December, before Godaddy broke my blog through technical incompetence, I had written a piece about the first stanza in Inferno, the first book of Dante’s trilogy, The Divine Comedy. Since that post seems irretrievably lost, I decided to write another in the same vein. So please bear with me if this seems redundant. It all began innocently enough on Tuesday late last year when I was searching through my bookshelves in search of something I can no longer recall, and instead of what … click below for more ↓

Ammon Shea is My New Hero

2021-10-17 2021-10-17 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Musings / What I'm Reading Now4 Comments

Eyyyyyyy Wssup guys This was the entire first post that started a thread in a group I belonged to on Facebook. I think seeing it aged me a decade, and encouraged me to leave the group afterwards. Walking barefoot on broken glass would cause me less distress. All the poster needed to do to make me despair enough to seriously consider slitting my wrists would have been to write “yall” instead of “guys” (thus removing any actual words from the post) I tire of the … click below for more ↓

Musings on Shakespeare Guidebooks

2021-06-05 2021-06-05 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Shakespeare / What I'm Reading Now3 Comments

Unless you’re an academic who has studied The Bard for your entire career, you really need a guide, a Virgil if you will, to enter the dark forest of Shakespeare and find your way about in it. At the very least, you’ll want a guide to Shakespeare’s language and wordplay to illuminate the texts. Fortunately, there are plenty of guides to be had in the printed world. From essays on a single soliloquy to books that explore the entire canon, there is no shortage of … click below for more ↓

Musings on Poets and Poetry

2021-03-31 2022-03-30 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Musings / Poetry / Poetry & Lyrics / Shakespeare / ShakespeareOne Comment

For me, reading the American literary critic, Harold Bloom, is often like wading in molasses. Intellectual molasses, to be sure, but slow going nonetheless. His writing is thick with difficult ideas and difficult words. Bloom’s historical reach, his knowledge and his understanding of the tapestry of literature far outstrip mine, so I find myself scuttling to the Net or other books on my shelf for collateral references, for critical commentary, and often to the dictionary. Bloom’s commentaries and essays are a challenge to me because … click below for more ↓

Point to Point: The Book From the Ground

2021-01-06 2021-01-06 Arts / Books & Reviews / Books about books / Culture / Language & Grammar / Meaning of words / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

A few years back, during one of our Toronto mini-vacations, I was browsing in the shop of the Art Gallery of Ontario, and I came across a small book that had no words, just pictures. No, it wasn’t a book with pictures of artworks or photographs: it was a story, told entirely through common icons, symbols, and emoticons. Pictograms, looking not unlike a modernized version of Egyptian hieroglyphs. There wasn’t even a book title on the cover. There were no instructions, no guides, no hints, … click below for more ↓

The Penguin Classics Book

2020-08-22 2020-08-22 Books & Reviews / Books about books / Literature / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Did you know there is a card game played in Japan at the New Year, called uta-garuta, where 100 cards have a full poem on each — traditionally taken from their classical poets — and another 100 have just the final line. Players take turn reading the poem from the deck, while the others race to find its concluding line from the cards with the final lines. I didn’t until I read about it on page 111 of The Penguin Classics Book, by Henry Eliot. … click below for more ↓