Joy of Books

by Eric Burns

Burns's compelling yet accessible history of the reading experience rejoices in the diverse motivations and methods in the developing relationship between readers and writers even as he voices concern at the powerful forces of ignorance and censorship that seek to keep them apart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Essays

218 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Eric Burns is an American media critic and journalist. He began his career as a correspondent for NBC News where he appeared regularly on NBC Nightly News and on the Today show.

Burns has written five critically-acclaimed books and continues to work in television. He has worked as a commentator for Entertainment Tonight, host of Arts & Entertainment Revue on A&E, and is the former host of Fox News Channel's Fox News Watch, as well as a media analyst for the network.

Burns received an Emmy Award for media criticism and was named by the Washington Journalism Review as one of the best writers in the history of broadcast journalism.

Reviews

[James Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a delightful and very personal commentary on books and reading shared by a passionate lifelong reader. All who love books can identify with Eric Burns, who has been associated with broadcast networks as a journalist, and most recently as a writer on the history of the media. He discusses both the reader and the writer in his short book and catalogs some of his reading over the years. He includes a suggested reading list of fiction and no-fiction books that is likely to inspire most readers to add to their own list of favorites. This is a very personal book that demonstrates the author's love of reading on every page, yet like other similar books I found an interest in the connection with this reader and his personal story.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

An overview of the history of books and the reactions to them (the past), followed by a discussion about types of reading, types of writing, motivation, etc. (the present), and a brief introduction to his son's reading and the author's hopes for him (the future). MANY brief references to authors and/or specific works. It's amazing the amount of material he was able to organize logically and present with applicable examples and references. It was a slow read - as a reader I never considered my vocabulary lacking, but I actually started a list (with definitions) of words that he used, which I didn't know (a surprising number).

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love to read about other people's love of books.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part memoir, part history, former newsman Eric Burns discusses books, their history, and important place in our world. Burns is clearly a reader and wishes to share that love of immersing oneself in books with other kindred spirits. However, his attempts to advocate for more books, more reading,and less technology and distractions frequently cross over into long-winded rants. Burns takes stabs at computers, video games, the education system, etc. that take people away from reading, without ever proposing a solution to reverse this. Technology isn't going away. Perhaps balance would be a better sermon than eradication.

On the one hand Burns is strongly advocating for people everywhere to read more. At the same time, he is also very disparaging of current authors who are not appropriately literary, in his view. If you're going to strongly encourage more reading, it seems unbalanced to criticize authors of popular fiction who produce books people want to read.

One part I thought very interesting: the book was written in 1995. Burns had seen a CD-Rom of The Grapes of Wrath and was appalled at the interactive features. I wonder what he thinks of e-books today?

At the end of the book Burns lists 571 books he thinks are very important to read. This is certainly his opinion and he's entitled to it, but it was a rather overwhelming list of white men authors. This didn't lower my review of the book (the ranting did that) but it seemed to fit with the narrow-mindedness I found regarding his attitudes toward the right way to read and the right books to read.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deserves at another half star. An easy read and fun indulgence for the bibluophilic ego. I particularly enjoyed the epilogue myself, as he reflects on passing an appreciation for the written word to his own offspring. I love his description of how one sees a story differently throughout time though the story itself hasn't changed a bit.

At times he descends into "damn kids, get off my lawn"-esque diatribes on the ills of modern society and the lack of cultural intellect among youth especially, but it's all cliche grumblings my generation heard as we were growing up in the 90s and often reiterate ourselves regarding young millenials, with slight alterations in the details. Overall, however, the tone is pleasant, sometimes dreamy and often nostalgic.

I feel like I could come back and re-read it fondly every few years, having added to my own consumption more of the works and authors he mentions and evaluating my own changing viewpoint. Mostly I'm going to look it up and order it to have on hand the reading list he provides at the end :)

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was nice but outdated. I read it with that fact in mind. I wanted to know about another reader's view on books. I think the main two back drops of where I read lent to a more dry read: Big Bear in a hot car with nothing to do except read for 4 hours and at a sunny beach with nothing to do for hours. Read and see this book as a jumping off point to explore the ideas, arguments, and facts Burns mentioned.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun. Not much to say, it had a short history and a short memoir-style thing to it. Good stuff.

[Fred Eisenhut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting study of book reading. Author is apparently a political conservative, but very open to wide readings. First saw him interviewed on Book TV, the c-span channel.