Library History

A history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age. “Engaging [and] ambitious” —The Washington Post Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold...

Echo London never wanted to be the curator of the People’s Library, a digital collection of human consciousness. But when she’s assigned as its head librarian, Echo is entrusted with humanity’s greatest minds and historical figures, all of whom have been recreated through controversial consciousness-capturing technology that lets visitors interact with the dead. But an anti-tech rebellion is stirring. When a rebel attack results in tragedy, a mysterious woman wearing an ancient death mask leaves behind cryptic final words for Echo: It all begins with nothing. 

In the Pacific, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but...

Ancient Civilizations – Mesopotamia History – The Cradle of Civilization – The Epic of Gilgamesh – The Code of Hammurabi – Sumer and Babylon – The Assyrian Empire – Ancient Near East History Five thousand years ago, on a scorching plain of mud between the Tigris and the Euphrates, humankind did something it had never done before: it built the first cities, invented writing, and carved the first laws — creating the world we still live in today. They called their land Mesopotamia. Their story is bloodier, stranger, and more astonishing than any myth — and almost everything ...

A new holiday story set in the Scottish Highlands to warm booklovers’ hearts by Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop. Mirren Sutherland stumbled into a career as an antiquarian book hunter after finding a priceless antique book in her great...

Philosophy for Beginners Introduction to Philosophy History of Western Philosophy Philosophy Box Set Philosophy 101 Big Ideas Made Simple Critical Thinking & Logic Philosophy for Curious Minds You've heard the names. Socrates. Plato. Kant. Nietzsche. But have you ever actually understood what they were arguing about — and why it still matters to the choices you make today? Most people never read philosophy because they assume it's locked behind academic jargon, written for specialists, impossible to enter without a degree. This 4-book collection exists to prove that assumption wrong. ...

Rolf, son of Hiarandi the Unlucky, is a character who exemplifies the effect of Christ's teachings upon the Icelandic people during their heroic age. The book is set in Iceland in the days when Christianity has come to the island though the old customs still linger. Hiarandi, at the urging of his wife, does an unprecedented thing: he lights a signal fire on a dangerous point of his land, thereby challenging the accepted custom which places lucrative salvage at higher value than the saving of life.

NEWLY REVISED AND EXPANDED: Now with 29 complete texts and updated scholarship. In 1945, a farmer in Upper Egypt cracked open a sealed clay jar and found thirteen codices buried since 367 CE. Inside were gospels, cosmologies, hymns, and visions from a rival Christianity so sophisticated it nearly won. For a thousand years, everything we knew about these texts came from the people who destroyed them. Now you can read them yourself. Twenty-nine texts in clear, modern English. No archaic phrasing. No dense scholarly apparatus. Just the words, made readable. The Gospels: The Gospel of Thomas (...

British airman Dym Ingleford is convinced that the young German prisoner, Max Eckermann, is his brother Anthony, who was kidnapped years before. Raised in the Nazi ideology, Tony has by chance tumbled into British hands. Dym has brought him back, at least temporarily, to the family he neither remembers nor will acknowledge as his own.

Sometime around 295 BCE, the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt built a library that would become the intellectual center of the ancient world. For centuries, the Library of Alexandria housed hundreds of thousands of scrolls — the accumulated knowledge of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Babylonian civilizations. Works of science, philosophy, literature, medicine, and mathematics that existed nowhere else on Earth. Then it was gone. Not in a single dramatic fire — that's the myth. The real story is slower, uglier, and more instructive. The Library of Alexandria died the way most knowledge dies: ...

World Religions Explained - Comparative Mythology - Sacred Symbols & Meanings - History of Religion - Life After Death Across Cultures - Ancient Civilizations & Faith - Spiritual Traditions Box Set - Interfaith Understanding What if everything you thought you knew about faith was only half the story? Long before cathedrals, mosques, and temples ever existed, humans stood beside open graves and asked the same three questions we still ask today: Where did this all begin? What do our sacred symbols really mean? And what happens to us when we die? This 3-book collection, World Religions: ...

Ancient wonder. A seductive rival. A discovery to die for. Darwin Lacroix drops everything—including his fiancée, Eyrún—to pursue a new lead on the lost Library of Alexandria. The trail begins in Rome, but it belongs to Tessa Santarossa—a brilliant Italian operator who plays by her own rules and never shows her full hand. What starts as a promising discovery turns into a dangerous race across a two-thousand-year-old path. Armed militants want the truth buried, and Tessa’s agenda is as elusive as the prize itself. Eyrún sees the threat immediately—and when the hunt turns violent...

"Its best passages treat knowledge not as treasure, but as burden: something that must be timed, guarded, doubted, and eventually released. I also found the book most compelling when it resisted the easy glamour of conspiracy. The Sisterhood is not simply a clever hidden order; it is an argument about history’s missing hands. The novel’s emotional current comes from its insistence that preservation is work, and that women have often done that work without signatures, monuments, or applause. The scale of the mythology can feel heavy, but that weight is also part of the book’s design. ...

Gnosticism Explained: Ancient Secret Knowledge, The Gnostic Gospels, Dualism, Sophia, the Demiurge, and the Quest for Spiritual Awakening in Early Christianity What was Gnosticism, and why was it considered one of the most controversial movements in early Christian history? Gnosticism Explained takes readers deep into the hidden world of ancient secret knowledge, exploring the Gnostic gospels, the myth of Sophia, the mysterious Demiurge, and the radical idea that salvation comes through inner awakening rather than external authority. Drawing on historical research and the groundbreaking ...

Myths! Lies! Secrets! Uncover the hidden truth behind the Revolutionary War with beloved educator/author Kate Messner. Perfect for fans of I Survived! and Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode through Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, shouting, "The British are...

Discover the secrets of our past and unlock a deeper understanding of human development. Immerse yourself in the legacies of ancient civilizations and uncover the interconnectedness and impact they still hold today. Gain a comprehensive overview of the most pivotal societies that have shaped human history. Experience the achievements, beliefs, and complexities of ancient cultures through captivating narratives. Delve into the advancements of ancient China, the diverse culture of the Persian Empire, and the enduring legacies of the Maurya and Byzantine Empires. Learn about the foundational ...

The iconic Miss Marple must investigate the case of a girl found dead in Agatha Christie’s classic mystery, The Body in the Library. It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now...

Mildred D. Taylor's Newbery Award-winning masterpiece with an introduction written and read by Jacqueline Woodson, just in time for its 40th Anniversary! Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and...

World War II History - Military History - Modern European History - Pacific War History - Holocaust and Genocide Studies - Twentieth-Century History - Geopolitics and Diplomacy - War Aftermath and Memory How did a fragile peace become the most destructive conflict in modern history? Why did democracies hesitate, dictatorships expand, and entire societies become trapped in a war that reshaped the world? World War II Made Easy offers a clear, compelling, and carefully organized journey through the causes, major fronts, decisive turning points, human suffering, and lasting consequences of the ...

Red Hugh was a true champion for Irish liberty from Queen Elizabeth's constricting reign in the late 1580's and beyond. Hugh's capture, imprisonment, and escape from the Dublin Castle; his triumph over a blizzard and frostbite; his dramatic rescue of his family's castle; his conflict with the evil Captain Leeds; and his inexhaustible love for Ireland make this a wonderful book for the entire family.