Media Reviews
Reading Mr. Manguel is like taking a city walk or an unhurried meal with an erudite, cosmopolitan friend. . . . Few cultures or historical periods are closed to him. He hops knowledgeably and divertingly from topic to topic. Yet he never strays far from his true interest, reading itself. -The Economist * The Economist *
Manguel vaults over the traditional fences of genre, literary history, and discipline with breathtaking virtuosity. He is the Montaigne de nos jours and, as regards this latest effort, if they put another rover on Mars they should call it 'Manguel.' -John Sutherland, University College London -- John Sutherland
For Alberto Manguel reading is a pilgrimage, a secular-sacred encounter with mystery, and a way of reinvigorating the dead. Dante and Montaigne and Pinocchio's Collodi are his guides and his intimates in this passionate quest for knowledge, but it is the state of inquiry itself and even doubt that define for him the pleasures of curiosity. With his loving, keenly felt, highly enjoyable delving into writers and their writings, Manguel argues for literature's revelatory illusions, its epiphanies and its testimony. -Marina Warner, author of Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights -- Marina Warner
Alberto Manguel is a wanderer among books, immensely curious in such an intriguing way that he lets his readers easily discover the fruits of his curiosity. -Roberto Calasso -- Roberto Calasso
This is a dynamic, lively book that leads the reader to appreciate the pleasures and the power of curiosity. In writing its remarkable history Alberto Manguel sees it both as a primary passion and as a force behind all intellectual experiences. In a sort of encyclopedic narrative Manguel journeys over the most distant places-from Dante's Florence to Rome, Jerusalem, Athens, and Latin America, etc.-and he invites us to a grand tour of wonders and surprises. -Giuseppe Mazzotta, Yale University -- Giuseppe Mazzotta
Manguel travels through books in the same way he travels through various countries. He meets new friends and asks questions of them about himself, and about life. In a style which is all his own, he delights us with the unlimited bounds of human curiosity. -Lina Bolzoni, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa -- Lina Bolzoni
An erudite analysis and exploration of curiosity through the author's own works and those of countless others. . . . Among the fictional or mythical characters that readers meet on this journey through the history of mankind are Eve, Pandora, Ulysses, and Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as a host of real scholars, religious figures, authors, poets, artists, philosophers and even economists. Human beings are, Manguel notes, self-conscious animals, capable of experiencing the world by asking questions and putting our curiosity into words, then turning those words into stories that lead to further questions. -Kirkus Reviews * Kirkus Reviews *
The search for knowledge, and the discontents associated with that search, provide a loose pretext for this rambling literary meditation. -Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *
Certain books are so absorbing, and so wide-ranging, that even the index at the back becomes entertaining. Curiosity (Yale University Press), a new work by Alberto Manguel, falls in that category. -Robert Fulford, National Post -- Robert Fulford * National Post *
Elegant and erudite, his book is a celebration of critical reading-a challenging, enjoyable and essential craft that is in danger these days of becoming a lost art. -Glenn Altschuler, Psychology Today -- Glenn Altschuler * Psychology Today *
A profound, insightful look into the human proclivity for questions, through literature. -Noah Cruickshank, Shelf Awareness for Readers -- Noah Cruickshank * Shelf Awareness for Readers *
How wonderfully appropriate that the endlessly inquisitive Alberto Manguel should consider the fascinating concept of curiosity. Fueled by a lifetime of reading, and with Dante as his guide, he embarks on an elegantly conceived excursion of the mind, driven by a single, timeless word-why? -Nicholas A. Basbanes, author of On Paper and A Gentle Madness -- Nicholas A. Basbanes
Curiosity is a book about the Talmud and the Mars rover, sophistry and knot-languages, David Hume and reading machines, Zoroaster and Pinocchio - and, periodically, curiosity and Dante. [Manguel] embraces the character of his own thinking - miscellaneous, excursive, fragmentary. . . . Closing the last page of this book, I wondered if perhaps Manguel intended to demonstrate curiosity in the behavior of his prose more than to discuss it. In many ways the book ought to be approached as a charming portrait of the curious man. -Robert Minto, Open Letters Monthly -- Robert Minto * Open Letters Monthly *
[Manguel's] `writing with what others have written,' his insistence on being called a reader rather than a critic or an editor, is a noble stance, and he has been faithful to it. May he and his library long flourish. -Philip Marchand, National Post -- Philip Marchand * National Post *
An eloquent blend of philosophical review, literary audit and memoir. . . . There are plenty of intriguing images and illustrations embedded within the text that help to place us in an earlier time, but a reader's experience with language can also be constructively reset with the help of Manguel. . . . Reading Manguel's book is a pleasing reminder that time, as much as anything, changes our relationship with art, ideas, but also with language itself. -Iain Reid, Toronto Globe & Mail -- Iain Reid * Toronto Globe & Mail *
`Alberto Manguel's dizzying account of curiosity is a fitting testament to his life as a literary evangelist.'-Duncan White, the Daily Telegraph. -- Duncan White * The Daily Telegraph *
`Curiosity is amongst the most interesting parades of humane knowledge, wry speculation and intellectual versatility that any curious person might hope to read... Time and again Manguel retrieves dusty stuff from the out-trays of history and restores them to beguiling currency.'-Frederic Raphael, Literary Review. -- Frederic Raphael * Literary Review *
`Enormously enjoyable about the pleasures of reading... [a book] about how books help us to be thoughtful, feeling human beings.'-Jonathan Bate, New Statesman. -- Jonathan Bate * New Statesman *
Alberto Manguel's book, a song of praise to the art of asking questions and exploring answers, curiously escapes categorisation. -Marina Gerner, TLS -- Marina Gerner * TLS *
If there's anyone alive today who is as widely read and bibliomaniacal as Borges was in his day, it's the author of Curiosity, the latest in a series of Manguel's meditations about reading, libraries, and the spectral spaces in the human psyche that literary works occupy. -Robert Pogue Harrison, New York Review of Books -- Robert Pogue Harrison * New York Review of Books *
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