---
product_id: 11039920
title: "The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future"
price: "HK$214"
currency: HKD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/11039920-the-case-for-books-past-present-and-future
store_origin: HK
region: Hong Kong
---

# Insight on digital libraries & Google Books Essays on book history & future Explores evolution of reading & publishing The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future

**Price:** HK$214
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Unlock the future of books—where tradition meets innovation!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future
- **How much does it cost?** HK$214 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/11039920-the-case-for-books-past-present-and-future)

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## Key Features

- • **Scholarly & Accessible:** Written by a renowned historian, perfect for professionals curious about publishing evolution.
- • **Balanced Tech Perspective:** Explores digital innovation without losing reverence for traditional print.
- • **Timeless Insight into Books:** A compelling collection of essays bridging past, present, and future of books.
- • **Critical Look at Digital Monopolies:** Highlights risks of centralized control over digital knowledge.
- • **FOMO for Book Lovers & Knowledge Seekers:** Join the conversation on the future of reading before it’s too late.

## Overview

The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton is a thought-provoking collection of essays that examines the history, current state, and future possibilities of books and publishing. Combining scholarly insight with a balanced view on digital transformation, it addresses the impact of Google Books, copyright challenges, and evolving reading habits. Ideal for professionals and bibliophiles eager to understand how technology and tradition intersect in the world of knowledge.

## Description

The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future [Darnton, Robert] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future

Review: Exciting Essays About the History and Future of Books - This book is a collection of essays about books. Darnton is enthralled about the possibilities of Google Books, because it has the potential of providing a worldwide library available to all those with access to the internet, but he is also concerned with Google being a monopoly, and he is realistic about copyright holders who may think twice about wanting to make all of their books available online without reasonable compensation. Darnton is not worried about the future of books in codex form, since it will be very difficult for modern technology to make something easier and more portable and convenient than an actual bound book. He envisions a world where there will be an increasing variety of ways to access information. Darnton is an 18th century European scholar, and this comes through in some of the essays. He shows how even journalists from that era wrote stories that were based on faulty fact finding, just as internet bloggers are often accused of today. The essays in The Case for Books are placed in reversed chronological order, but they show how well Darnton has been able to see into the future of books. The last essay is of value because it provides a powerful proposal for schools to consider the history of books as an area worthy of study. This book is well worth reading, and it will make you love books more, both bound and unbound.
Review: A hymn of praise to both books and e-books - Robert Darnton doesn't want to have to choose between books and e-books. That's at the core of this compelling collection of essays and articles, some of which have been published elsewhere and some of which are new. He wants knowledge to be available and accessible -- and loves the idea of how new technologies can accomplish that. On the other hand, he has a number of concerns about the unintended or unexpected consequences of a future that rests solely on digital content, such as the fact that Google and others pursuing projects to digitize books aren't doing so as a public service. As Darnton points out, they do not see libraries as "temples of learning", but rather buildings that contain "potential assets or what they call 'content', ready to mined" at a cost that will be a fraction of the expense that went into building those collections. Some of the interesting topics touched on in this eclectic collection are the economics of publishing -- what is a scholar to do in a world where university presses can't count on selling 800 copies of a monograph? Can electronic publishing help meet the needs of the scholarly community to publish or perish -- and what is the price that would be paid? Darnton speaks out about the tendency of some librarians to value space and what that means for preservation; as well as the dangers associated with simply tossing out old newspapers after reproducing them on microfilm. (What if the microfilm is fuzzy? What if someone made margin notes that aren't reproduced; yet those margin notes inform later scholars or historians far more than the original content itself, with the passage of time?) There is an essay on bibliography and the importance of studying the history of the publication of a book or work (such as the various folios of Shakespeare). My favorite of these essays, however, revolves around the way we read. Today, most of us wouldn't dream of reading in any other way from beginning to end (unless we cheat and try to find out how a mystery or romance novel ends because we can't stand the suspense). Darnton explores the way in which earlier generations of avid readers approached their books in a very different and far more utilitarian manner, using them as source material. That in turn begs the question of how differently we may approach content a few centuries from now. Darnton's collection is a plea of sorts to consider how we can keep what is valuable even as we open new doors to the transmission of our thoughts and ideas in print, whether on paper or cyber-paper. I've rated this book 4.5 stars; rounded it down because some of the material overlaps and repeats (particularly the early chapters focusing on Google Book Search) and because Darnton doesn't go far enough in establishing a common theme linking and connecting these essays and articles. I'm familiar with many of the topics Darnton touches upon, and with the history of printing and publishing, and still found myself pausing to try and follow his train of thought and logic as I moved from one piece to the next. Each of those segments, however, will make fascinating reading for anyone interested in what the digital age means for conventional publishing, for scholarship and for readers, particularly since Darnton approaches his topics with clear eyes and a level head. This is no latter-day Luddite eager to bash technology, just someone who is trying to understand both its merits and the new set of risks it creates. Recommended primarily to those interested in the general topic of publishing and cyber-publishing; I'd also suggest reading Darnton's excellent The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France , which explores the ways in which even before the Internet and e-books, eager readers found ways to circumvent attempts at censorship.

## Features

- Used Book in Good Condition

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,414,694 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #124 in History of Books #654 in General Library & Information Sciences #785 in Social Aspects of Technology |
| Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 41 Reviews |

## Images

![The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71q9QelOxCL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exciting Essays About the History and Future of Books
*by D***D on September 6, 2010*

This book is a collection of essays about books. Darnton is enthralled about the possibilities of Google Books, because it has the potential of providing a worldwide library available to all those with access to the internet, but he is also concerned with Google being a monopoly, and he is realistic about copyright holders who may think twice about wanting to make all of their books available online without reasonable compensation. Darnton is not worried about the future of books in codex form, since it will be very difficult for modern technology to make something easier and more portable and convenient than an actual bound book. He envisions a world where there will be an increasing variety of ways to access information. Darnton is an 18th century European scholar, and this comes through in some of the essays. He shows how even journalists from that era wrote stories that were based on faulty fact finding, just as internet bloggers are often accused of today. The essays in The Case for Books are placed in reversed chronological order, but they show how well Darnton has been able to see into the future of books. The last essay is of value because it provides a powerful proposal for schools to consider the history of books as an area worthy of study. This book is well worth reading, and it will make you love books more, both bound and unbound.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A hymn of praise to both books and e-books
*by S***E on November 27, 2009*

Robert Darnton doesn't want to have to choose between books and e-books. That's at the core of this compelling collection of essays and articles, some of which have been published elsewhere and some of which are new. He wants knowledge to be available and accessible -- and loves the idea of how new technologies can accomplish that. On the other hand, he has a number of concerns about the unintended or unexpected consequences of a future that rests solely on digital content, such as the fact that Google and others pursuing projects to digitize books aren't doing so as a public service. As Darnton points out, they do not see libraries as "temples of learning", but rather buildings that contain "potential assets or what they call 'content', ready to mined" at a cost that will be a fraction of the expense that went into building those collections. Some of the interesting topics touched on in this eclectic collection are the economics of publishing -- what is a scholar to do in a world where university presses can't count on selling 800 copies of a monograph? Can electronic publishing help meet the needs of the scholarly community to publish or perish -- and what is the price that would be paid? Darnton speaks out about the tendency of some librarians to value space and what that means for preservation; as well as the dangers associated with simply tossing out old newspapers after reproducing them on microfilm. (What if the microfilm is fuzzy? What if someone made margin notes that aren't reproduced; yet those margin notes inform later scholars or historians far more than the original content itself, with the passage of time?) There is an essay on bibliography and the importance of studying the history of the publication of a book or work (such as the various folios of Shakespeare). My favorite of these essays, however, revolves around the way we read. Today, most of us wouldn't dream of reading in any other way from beginning to end (unless we cheat and try to find out how a mystery or romance novel ends because we can't stand the suspense). Darnton explores the way in which earlier generations of avid readers approached their books in a very different and far more utilitarian manner, using them as source material. That in turn begs the question of how differently we may approach content a few centuries from now. Darnton's collection is a plea of sorts to consider how we can keep what is valuable even as we open new doors to the transmission of our thoughts and ideas in print, whether on paper or cyber-paper. I've rated this book 4.5 stars; rounded it down because some of the material overlaps and repeats (particularly the early chapters focusing on Google Book Search) and because Darnton doesn't go far enough in establishing a common theme linking and connecting these essays and articles. I'm familiar with many of the topics Darnton touches upon, and with the history of printing and publishing, and still found myself pausing to try and follow his train of thought and logic as I moved from one piece to the next. Each of those segments, however, will make fascinating reading for anyone interested in what the digital age means for conventional publishing, for scholarship and for readers, particularly since Darnton approaches his topics with clear eyes and a level head. This is no latter-day Luddite eager to bash technology, just someone who is trying to understand both its merits and the new set of risks it creates. Recommended primarily to those interested in the general topic of publishing and cyber-publishing; I'd also suggest reading Darnton's excellent The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France , which explores the ways in which even before the Internet and e-books, eager readers found ways to circumvent attempts at censorship.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Must Have for Those Who Admire the Book
*by J***R on March 24, 2010*

I bought this book after seeing Darnton on Book-TV. It's nice to have his words captured in codex form. The book is thoughtful and hopeful in tone with lots of hard data, but be prepared for a bit of repetition and a lot of attention to Darnton's pet electronic book project. All in all, a must have for those who hope the book will endure in the electronic age.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-07*