Inspired by the process of creating a library for his fifteenth-century home near the Loire in France, Alberto Manguel, the acclaimed writer on books and reading, has taken up the subject of libraries. 'Libraries', he says, 'have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I've been seduced by their labyrinthine logic'. In this personal, deliberately unsystematic, and wide-ranging book, he offers a captivating meditation on the meaning of libraries.Manguel, a guide of irrepressible enthusiasm, conducts a unique library tour that extends from his childhood bookshelves to the 'complete' libraries of the Internet, from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the Arab world, from China and Rome to Google. He ponders the doomed library of Alexandria as well as the personal libraries of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges, and others. He recounts stories of people who have struggled against tyranny to preserve freedom of thought - the Polish librarian who smuggled books to safety as the Nazis began their destruction of Jewish libraries; the Afghani bookseller who kept his store open through decades of unrest. Oral 'memory libraries' kept alive by prisoners, libraries of banned books, the imaginary library of Count Dracula, the library of books never written - Manguel illuminates the mysteries of libraries as no other writer could.With scores of wonderful images throughout, "The Library at Night" is a fascinating voyage through Manguel's mind, memory, and vast knowledge of books and civilizations.

 Read more about Albert Manguel, writer, translator and editor.

'Manguel writes as a true bibliophile, valuing a second-hand copy with a history as much as a fine binding, but drawn primarily by what the book might reveal. His own book is ruminative and absorbing - a pleasure to read.' Andrew Mead, Architects Journal

'The Library at Night, Manguel's delightful and profound investigation of how and why we collect books, reminds us that tumbling over authors is one of a library's greatest pleasures ... It's hard not to keep quoting Manguel, who is often quoting someone else (quoting someone else). He is a writer for whom each observation is accompanied by a riffle of pages in a gesture that is unusually natural. This delicate reach brings each book he mentions to life in its own world and encourages us to explore that world further.' Lavinia Greenlaw Financial Times

'In this wonderful and gripping book, Manguel makes libraries seem as full of gusto and energy as life, and not, as people sometimess seem to think, dusty alternatives to it.' Philip Hensher, The Daily Telegraph

'... a beguiling picture of an ideal literary lifestyle. Bibliophiles without their own particular libraries in the Loire can at least possess this splendidly idiosyncranatic history on libraries. The book itself is unusually handsome (as a volume on this subject really has to be), with rich, creamy paper and elegant typefaces.' James McConnachie, The Sunday Times

'Endearingly discursive, The Library at Night celebrates the quixotic aspect of library love. It charts a tension between order and chaos, glut and absence... [Manguel] likes to imagine that, when he dies, he and his books will crumble together: his library is his own intimate universe.' David Jays, New Statesman

'It is written in Ecclesiastes that of "of making many books there is no end, and much study is weariness of the flesh". This can be construed as a celebration of, or warning concerning, the plentitude and power of books. The book can help us to interpret the past and to imagine the future. That is the achievenment of the Library at Night. Out of the darkness of one man's library shines a beacon.' Peter Ackroyd, The Times

'Manguel [quietly], without bombast, reminds the reader of what a library can mean ... [this is] a book of curious, fascinating nooks and crannies.' Hugh MacDonald, The Herald

'The library is a memory, the record of who we are and how we are and how we came to be that ... That is just what this rich and delightful book offers: a convention from the past to give context to the present - and so make us fully alive.' Allan Massie, Literary Review

'... crowded with memorable tales of reading as rescue as solace, as liberation, in times of want, fear or tyranny ... The Library at Night revels in the physical pleasure of drifting and dipping through the Gutenburg galaxy of in-on-paper books.' Boyd Tonkin interview with Alberto Manguel, The Independent

'Books jump out of their jackets when Manguel opens them and dance in delight as they make contact with his ingenious, voluminous brain. He is not the keeper of a silent cemetery, but a master of bibliographical revels.' Peter Conrad, The Observer