{"title":"Books About Books","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780712354240","title":"The Book Lover's Almanac","description":"\u003cb\u003eEnjoy daily distraction with this engaging Almanac. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Each date is assigned one or more literary connections. Book lovers will find extracts from authors’ diaries and letters, chance upon the narrative twists and transformative moments in their favorite novels, discover the winners of prestigious awards and losers of creative squabbles, and the delivery of manuscript, first publication and performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The book draws on the incredible collections of the British Library to find new, surprising and entertaining ways to celebrate every day of the year. 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A remarkable story of cultural life, friendship, obsession and passion' Stephen Fry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrilliantly evocative, like listening to the gossip of ghosts' Bruce Robinson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller of Hay\u003c\/i\u003e is the very model of a biography which amazes, occasionally horrifies and entirely engrosses . . . James Hanning is a writer of sublime insight, style and skill' Horatio Clare\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'What you have to understand is that Richard Booth was completely mad' Marianne Faithfull\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1962, a young man left university without a degree and, for want of anything better to do, bought a small shop in an obscure market town on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. Within fifteen years, largely through force of personality, Richard Booth had created the world's largest second-hand bookshop, attracting thousands of visitors from across the globe to Hay-on-Wye, on the Welsh border. \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller of Hay\u003c\/i\u003e tells the tale of an extraordinary, chaotic man, a true British eccentric, who invented the term 'book town', attracted a coterie of exotic and illustrious followers, crowned himself king, declared the town's independence and provided the bookish backdrop which - to his frustration - allowed a rival attraction, the now world-famous Hay Festival, to flourish. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is a story of the extraordinary singlemindedness of a hard-working, hard-playing and rebellious son of privilege, inspired by a romantic vision and a deep love of the area, of a man better suited to publicity than bean-counting, who launched countless careers but whose business instincts undermined precisely what had brought success. Booth was a deeply divisive figure, but love him or hate him, all agree on one thing. He put Hay on the map.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Hanning, a frequent visitor to Hay since the 1960s, has interviewed dozens of local people and booksellers and with typical acuity wonderfully captures this bygone era of eccentricity and excess.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"James Hanning","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":48211510362164,"sku":"9781472159809","price":24.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0635\/0320\/4404\/files\/BNCImageAPI_8dc687d9-7a05-4820-a4e3-b5840dd9adb1.jpg?v=1787184844"},{"product_id":"9781541607279","title":"The Bookshop","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe global history of the rise and transformation of bookstores, from medieval book merchants to today’s neighborhood indies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“This is the arresting and ultimately optimistic story of the making and marketing of print culture. 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But where did these indispensable implements come from? How did they revolutionize our lives? And how can using a notebook help change the way you think? In this wide-ranging history, Roland Allen reveals how the notebook became our most dependable and versatile tool for creative thinking. He tells the notebook stories of Leonardo and Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton and Marie Curie, and writers from Chaucer to Henry James; shows how Darwin developed his theory of evolution in tiny pocket books and Agatha Christie plotted a hundred murders in scrappy exercise books; and introduces a host of cooks, kings, sailors, fishermen, musicians, engineers, politicians, adventurers, and mathematicians, all of whom used their notebooks as a space to think—and in doing so, shaped the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n  \u003cp\u003eIn an age of AI and digital overload, the humble notebook is more relevant than ever. 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