<b>Patrick M. Valentine</b>. <i>A Social History of Books and Libraries from Cuneiform to Bytes, 2012.</i> Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 2012. 203p. alk. paper, $60 (ISBN 9780810885707). LC2012-020892.

A first response to this book might be doubt. How, one might wonder, can such an epic topic be covered in so few pages? But any suspicions you have will quickly dissolve once you delve into this remarkably comprehensive and deftly written volume that entertains and informs until the very last page. Long before that point, however, it will become obvious that the breadth of the author's knowledge is surpassed only by his ability to sustain a narrative as he nimbly moves from subject to subject and century to century. The tidy little volume has a few well-chosen illustrations, is indexed and accompanied by a massive but not overly ostentatious bibliography (and a web address for more, which unfortunately may have an error in it; this reviewer was not able to access it). It is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 covers early books up to ca. 1450; the next covers the development of libraries in that same period; books and printing, from the 15th to the 19th centuries is covered in Chapter 3, while a discussion on libraries in the Renaissance and beyond follows in Chapter 4. Modern print and computers comprise Chapter 5; and a succinct summary of the past, present, and future of American libraries is the focus of Chapter 6. In the midpoint of each of these chapters, which play off the tension between books (really the written word) and libraries, there is an " interlude " or long related " sidebar " that the author develops at some length, often adding dimension to the particular discussion , while not slowing the narrative. For example, an " interlude " on book art comes in Chapter 1 and an interlude on burning books bisects Chapter 6. Prefac-ing each chapter is a string of quotations from diverse sources. The crowded layout and lack of white space setting these quotes apart from the main text can be a bit of stumbling block to the reader (a design flaw, not the fault of the author). It's a very small discomfort to endure for such a bravura performance. While specialists may cavil at some of the quick and easy summaries, the book does exactly what the author, a local historian of Wilson, North Carolina, and assistant professor of library science at East Carolina University, sets out to do. Valentine states his aim is not to " catalogue but to spotlight, " …