Books like A Short History of the Printed Word

I originally ordered this book from the library so that I could learn more about the products of my current employer, a print shop. Though I did not get a basic introduction to the technicalities of the print trade, I did get a wonderful layman's guide to the basic history of this industry.Ranging from the dawn of basic block printing at the end of the Middle Ages to 1970, Warren Chappell writes with intelligence and eloquence about the finer points of type, newspapers, books, printing technology, the greatest minds in printmaking and type-crafting, all in the space of less than 250 pages. In case all of this sounds rather dull, rest assured, you couldn't be more wrong. Chappell's account is a real page-turner, with not a hint of tedium in the entire work. The one obvious though inconsequential pitfall of the book is its dated publication. But Chappell himself, being a historian worth his salt, notes in the last chapter technologies that were mere saplings in his time that are giants now, including computers and photocopiers. Altogether, a quite fascinating read.