Simon Garfield

"Delves into the history of the encyclopedia from Ancient Greece to today and examines what has been lost in the digital age of infinite information."--

"Ludo is a dog--Simon Garfield's beloved black Labrador retriever, one of millions of canines who have become integral parts of our lives. But how did the humble dog become top dog? How did these faithful animals come to assist us not only in hunting, but in bomb disposal and cancer detection--and ultimately become our closest companions? Dog's Best Friend examines how this bond developed over the centuries, and how it has transformed countless lives,...

An obsessively readable memoir about the passions—and perils—of collecting, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Just My Type.
 
From the Penny Red to the Blue Mauritius, generations of collectors have been drawn to the mystique of rare stamps. Once a widespread pastime of schoolboys, philately has increasingly become the province of older men obsessed with the shrewd investment, the...

"Not so long ago we timed our lives by the movement of the sun. These days our time arrives atomically and insistently, and our lives are propelled by the notion that we will never have enough of the one thing we crave the most. How have we come to be dominated by something so arbitrary? The compelling stories in this book explore our obsessions with time. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his...

Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. The Beatles learn to be brilliant in an hour and a half. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A US Senator begins a speech that will last for 25 hours. The horrors of war are frozen at the click of a camera. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister lives out the same four minutes...

An ode to the dwindling art of letter writing explores its potential salvation in the digital age, chronicling the history of letter writing as reflected by love letters, chain mail, and business correspondence, while surveying the role that letters have played as literary devices.