A small book on a very wide-ranging topic - that of readers and their relationship with the books they read. Blending references to philosophy, literature, and culture the author creates an image of the ultimate reader with all the benefits and flaws that such an occupation entails. ( )

Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTbPUKtffs ( )

Not Manguel's strongest offering, but pleasant nonetheless. Full of nuggets, including this early warrant for the man-cave: "Wretched the man (to my taste) who has nowhere in his house where he can be by himself, pay court to himself in private and hide away" (Montaigne). ( )

This slim book, The Traveler, the Tower, and the Worm: The Reader as Metaphor is based on Manguel's 2011 A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. In the introduction, Manguel notes that he had, in a previous book, briefly explored some metaphors associated with reading, but "felt that the subject merited a more in-depth exploration" (4). He focuses here on three: the reader as traveler, the reader in an ivory tower, and the reader as bookworm. Given the limits of a fairly short lecture, it's surprising how much Manguel packs in: a brief history of the use of the metaphor, a short case study, and then some of his own musings about the metaphor's present and future uses.

Manguel also briefly comments on how electronic reading and the internet have changed the dynamic, at least for some readers. He writes "E.M. Forster's too-famous advice 'only connect' has taken the shape of a mindless interconnectedness, the feeling that by means of the World Wide Web we are never alone, never required to account for ourselves, never obliged to reveal our true identity. We travel in herds, we chat in groups, we acquire friends on Facebook, we dread an empty room and the sight of a single shadow on our wall. We feel uncomfortable reading alone; we want our reading too to be 'interconnected,' sharing comments onscreen, being directed by best-seller lists that tell us what others are reading, and by reader's guides added by the publisher to the original text, suggesting questions to ask and answers to give" (45-46).

Manguel's comments on electronic reading (particularly on 47-48) mirror my own experience: I find that I don't pay as much attention, I read more quickly, and I don't retain what I've read nearly as well as if I hold the book in my hands. Will that change, over time? Perhaps.

I've long enjoyed Manguel's writing, and this was no exception. This is a book to enjoy on a nice winter day, when you can take the time to savor the writing. ( )