From the author of the highly praised The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things comes another captivating history of the seemingly mundane: the book and its storage.

Most of us take for granted that our books are vertical on our shelves with the spines facing out, but Henry Petroski, inveterately curious engineer, didn't. As a result, readers are guided along the astonishing evolution from papyrus scrolls boxed at Alexandria to upright books shelved at the Library of Congress. Unimpeachably researched, enviably written, and charmed with anecdotes from Seneca to Samuel Pepys to a nineteenth-century bibliophile who had to climb over his books to get into bed, The Book on the Bookshelf is indispensable for anyone who loves books.

• We started tracking this book on October 23, 2012.
• This book was $12.99 when we started tracking it.
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• The current price of this book is $7.99 last checked 17 hours ago.
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• The lowest price to date was $6.99 last reached on December 10, 2023.
• This book has been $6.99 2 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $15.99 last reached on September 1, 2015.
• This book has been $15.99 one time since we started tracking it.

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• Print Length: 308 Pages
• File Size: 3,025 KB