Michael Lieberman

The Chinese Book Burner and the Great Wall of Books

Qin Shi Huang, is one of the most notorious and prolific book burners in history. During his reign from 221 BC - 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang outlawed Confucianism and ordered the burning of pretty much all the books that came before him including the classic works of the Hundred Schools of Thought. It is also believed that he buried alive many of the scholars of the day. All in his quest to unite China.This the same guy who built the Great Wall.Jorge Luis Borges wrote an essay on Qin Shi Huang, 'The Wall and the Books' (La muralla y...

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Book Club 2.0 : Reading Bolaño Together

Joanne Kaufman's piece in the Sunday Styles section (why the Style section and not the Book section?) of the New York Times , "Fought Over Any Good Books Lately", gives us a glimpse into the world of book clubs and the challenges they face in keeping everyone on the same page.Many of the issues she touches on are the same reasons why I haven't joined one.That is until now.Starting in January a bunch of us are going to begin reading Roberto Bolaño's highly acclaimed new book 2666. The posthumously published 900 page tome has made most of the Top Ten...

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The "Titan of Typography"

Richard Hollis has a nice piece in the Guardian UK on Jan Tschichold. Though probably best known for his reworking of the design of Penguin paperbacks Tschichold was at the forefront of the new typography movement of the late 1920's.Slideshow from the Guardian articleJan Tschichold at WikipediaAlso of note: Thames & Hudson's recently published Jan Tschichold - Master Typographer: His Life, Work and Legacy

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