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The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads
Perigee Trade
October 2010
On Sale: October 5, 2010
240 pages
ISBN: 0399535934
EAN: 9780399535932
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
A surprising, lively, and rich history of that ubiquitous
doorstop that most of us take for granted. Ammon Shea is not your typical thirtysomething book
enthusiast. After reading the Oxford English Dictionary from
cover to cover (and living to write about it in Reading the
OED), what classic, familiar, but little-read book would he
turn to next? Yes, the phone book. With his signature
combination of humor, curiosity, and passion for combing the
dustbins of history, Shea offers readers a guided tour into
the surprising, strange, and often hilarious history of the
humble phone book. From the first printed version in 1878 (it had fifty
listings and no numbers) to the phone book's role in
presidential elections, Supreme Court rulings, Senate
filibusters, abstract art, subversive poetry, circus
sideshows, criminal investigations, mental-health diagnoses,
and much more, this surprising volume reveals a rich and
colorful story that has never been told-until now.
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