Category: books

“By staging this exhibition and by returning looted books, the Austrian National Library is not merely responding to a legal obligation. Moreover, the library feels it has a truly moral obligation to set things right and own up to its responsibility. This clear commitment does not stop here. Research on a comprehensive history of the National Library during this shameful period is currently underway and the results will published at the end of 2005.” [thanks owen]

“I wonder what my colleagues would think if they knew how much of my mental life is still enriched by spoken-word recordings. Listening to tapes while engaged in mindless but unavoidable activities, I get through about 30 books a year that I would not otherwise have read. It’s almost like I’m sneaking in an extra half-lifetime of reading in the course of doing my ordinary chores, which have a way of getting done more thoroughly as a result of listening while I work.” [thanks michael]