The Librarian's Book of Quotes || Marian the librarian gets some loving...
Written: Oct 13 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: If you really like your library or your librarian ...you might like this one.
Cons: Unless you are sipping the library kool-aid ...take a pass on this one.
The Bottom Line: Flip through this one standing in the bookstore aisle. Or check it out at the bastion of freedom and savior of civilization as we know it: the public library.
sleeper54's Full Review: Tatyana Eckstrand - The Librarian's Book of Quotes
... I suppose mathematicians write books exploring the joy of numbers. And I guess National Geographic publishes tomes extolling the beauty and wonder of nature and cultures found around the world. Of course every autobiography ever published is nothing if not self-centered.
Perhaps it should not surprise me then to find The Librarian's Book of Quotes is published by the American Library Association. Who better to sing one's praises than the face in the mirror..??
In a book not much bigger than typical DVD case, and about the same thickness, library sciences-trained Tatyana Eckstrand compiles over two hundred quotes from a wide range of sources. Contributors as diverse as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Francis Bacon, Lemony Snicket, Warren Buffett, William Shakespeare, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Michael Moore, Groucho Marx, John F. Kennedy, Garrison Keillor and many more all share excerpted thoughts on the value of libraries in their lives and in society in general.
Of course it should be no surprise that this book portrays libraries as the only safeguard to the survival of civilization (Western and otherwise) as we know it. It should be no surprise that every library is a beloved sanctuary removed and insulated from the misery of everyday life, that every book is the key to a better future, that every librarian is the vigilant keeper of the flame of knowledge and freedom.
That probably sounds more negative than I intend it to be. But it is a bit of a rub for the neutral reader (or even the vaguely interested reader) to be told again and again how wonderful, valuable, and necessary libraries and librarians are. OK, OK ...we get it already..!!
Printed in a two-color format, the book is randomly illustrated with 'library-ish' photographs and drawings. One of my favorites (though not so 'library-ish') is a sketch/caricature of a 'hung-over' gent. On the facing page F. Scott Fitzgerald shares: "I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library." A quote, apparently, from The Great Gatsby.
In the long run, these non-librarian thoughts and quotes tend to be the more insightful and . . .interesting than the time-and-again 'true librarian' quotes.
Another example: late in the book Michael Moore shares: "Librarians see themselves as the guardians of the First Amendment. You got a thousand Mother Joneses at the barricades! I love the librarians and I am grateful for them!"
'A thousand Mother Joneses'..!! Now that is a mental image..!! Much better than the endless repetition of 'we are saving yur arses from the second Dark Ages..!!'
The book concludes with a short Biographical Dictionary (ex: Twain, Mark (1835-1910) American humorist, author, and lecturer) and a Sources section that lists a dozen or so websites where most of the material was apparently cribbed ...err, compiled from.
The Bottom Line If you have a librarian friend that feels unappreciated . . .s/he might really like this one. Otherwise . . .flip through The Librarian's Book of Quotes at the bookstore and save your bucks for a drink from the coffee bar.
Lean-n-mean XIII coming soon. Be there or be ... verbose, long-winded, and insufferable to all your readers...
sleeper loves his books..!! ...and yes his libraries..!!
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