Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow. Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red
With my eyes closed, I would touch a familiar book and draw its fragrance deep inside me. This was enough to make me happy. Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book. Patti Smith
It is clear that the books owned the shop rather than the other way about. Everywhere they had run wild and taken possession of their habitat, breeding and multiplying, and clearly lacking any strong hand to keep them down. Agatha Christie, The Clocks
For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives. Cicero
Every night, I have to read a book, so that my mind will stop thinking about things that I stress about. Britney Spears
If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all – except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty. John F Kennedy
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep. W B Yeats, The Collected Poems
I couldn’t live a week without a private library – indeed, I’d part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I’d let go of the 1500 or so books I possess. H P Lovecraft
All I wanted to do was go back inside to the library and read a book. I used to spend all my time reading books, or watching television. It was safe. Nobody ever was hurt or teased or looked stupid while reading books or watching television. Kathryn Magendie, Sweetie
I’m really a library man, or second-hand book man. John le Carre
My father had inklings of my cultural aspirations. He would take me to the library, things like that. But he wasn’t one of those dads who had read George Orwell and was a member of the Communist party. We had no books at home. Gary Kemp
There are times when I think that the ideal library is composed solely of reference books. They are like understanding friends; always ready to meet your mood, always ready to change the subject when you have had enough of this or that. J Donald Adams, The New York Times 1 April 1956
For thousands of years mankind has dreamt of a giant library that contained every book in the world. Every human being would be able to visit this library. In the twenty-first century technology could make that dream a reality. Storyville: Google and the World Brain, BBC 2013
Man’s attempt to build a library that contained all knowledge began in the third century B.C. in Ancient Egypt. ibid.
In the late nineties, pioneers began to combine the scanner, the book and the internet to create giant digital libraries. ibid.
Google scanned around 10 million books. 6 million of these were books in copyright – scanned without asking the authors’ permission. ibid.
Alongside Google and the Internet Archive, several large internet corporations have been implementing their own book scanning projects. Among them: Amazon, Microsoft and in China, Baidu. ibid.
Authors’ Guild files lawsuit against Google, alleging copyright infringement. ibid.
Google face lawsuit from American publishers. ibid.
Google have agreed to pay $125 million in a settlement. ibid.
The Settlement gave Google an exclusive right to sell scans of all out-of-print but in-copyright works. These books are sometimes known as Orphans. ibid.
In September 2009 the US Congress held a hearing into competition and monopoly in the digital books market. ibid.
In August 2009 an American court began Fairness Hearings to consider whether it should approve the Google Book Settlement. No cameras were present. ibid.
Judge Chin rejected the Google Books Settlement. The Authors Guild and Google remain in dispute. ibid.
The Authors Guild is suing Google for up to $2 billion in damages for scanning books in copyright. ibid.
Google continues to scan out-of-copyright books in agreement with major libraries. They are also showing snippets of copyrighted books in agreement with many publishers. ibid.
Now government and libraries in Europe and America are working together to build their own public and free digital libraries. ibid.
Every one of the three-hundred books he [Epicurus] wrote has been lost. Alain de Botton, Philosophy: Epicurus on Happiness
One book remains: The Very Rich Hours, which is one of the miracles of art history. Kenneth Clark: Civilisation 3/13: Romance & Reality, BBC 1969
The hardcore determination of the Lindisfarne monks shows not only in the miraculous building in their great monastery but also in the stunning book art they made up here. So intricate. So detailed. So difficult. Waldemar Januszczak, The Dark Ages: An Age of Light IV: The Men of the North, BBC 2012
John James Audubon – he celebrated the beauties of America’s promised land, but also counted the cost of the push west ... One of the masterpieces of world art – The Birds of America. Andrew Graham-Dixon, Art of America 1/3, BBC 2011
For centuries Rome had been burning Bibles along with the books written by Wycliffe and others. A Lamp in the Dark – The Untold History of the Bible
Murder’s the darkest and most despicable crime of all. And yet we're attracted to it. Grisly crimes like these would appal us if we encountered them in real life. But something happens when they’re turned into stories and safely placed between the covers of a book. A Very British Murder With Lucy Worsley I: The New Taste for Blood, BBC 2013
I’ll tell you what a goldmine is – those Harry Potter books. The Sopranos s4e2: No Show starring James Gandolfini & Lorriane Bracco & Edie Falco & Michael Imperioli & Dominic Chianese & Steven van Zandt & Tony Sirico & Robert Iler et al, gangsta at lunch, HBO 2002
Pulp Fiction: pulp/pelp/n 1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter. 2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper. American Heritage Dictionary, New College Edition. Pulp Fiction 1994 ***** starring Uma Thurman & John Travolta & Samuel L Jackson & Harvey Keitel & Tim Roth & Amanda Plummer & Maria de Medeiros & Ving Rhames & Eric Stoltz & Rosanna Arquette & Bruce Willis & Christopher Walken et al, director Quentin Tarantino, caption
Somerset: I’ll never understand it. All these books. A world of knowledge at their fingertips, and what do you do, you play poker all night.
Guide: We got culture coming out our ears. Se7en 1995 starring Brad Pitt & Morgan Freeman & Kevin Spacey & Gwyneth Paltrow & Richard Roundtree & Richard Schiff & R Lee Ermey & Mark Boone junior & John Cassini & Reg E Cathey et al, director David Fincher, playing poker
It’s not a fucking book; it’s a weapon. A weapon aimed right at the hearts and the minds of the weak and the desperate. It will give us control of um ... If we want to rule more than some small fucking town we have to have it. Book of Eli 2010 starring Denzel Washington & Gary Oldman & Mila Kunis & Ray Stevenson & Jennifer Beals & Evan Jones & Joe Pingue & Frances de la Tour & Michael Gambon & Chris Browning & Malcolm McDowell & Tom Waits et al, directors Hughes brothers, Carnegie
All we need is that book ... It’s the only one. ibid.
What good are all these books to you? You can’t eat them. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover 1989 starring Helen Mirren & Alan Howard & Richard Bohringer & Tim Roth & Michael Gambon & Ian Drury & Cairan Hinds & Gary Olsen & Ewan Stewart & Liz Smith et al, director Peter Greenway, her to him