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burnt
Rancher
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 4478
Location: Mid-western Ontario
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 Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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But that doesn't answer your question of when books became widely available!
More to the question, I found this about Gutenburg, who invented the first press with movable type in the West -
"By 1452, with the aid of borrowed money, Gutenberg began his famous Bible project. Two hundred copies of the two-volume Gutenberg Bible were printed, a small number of which were printed on vellum. The expensive and beautiful Bibles were completed and sold at the 1455 Frankfurt Book Fair, and cost the equivalent of three years' pay for the average clerk. Roughly fifty of all Gutenberg Bibles survive today."
So as printing became more affordable and efficient, literacy also climbed from the 15th century onward, contributing to the Renaissance and Reformation.
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html
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Oldtimer
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 24735
Location: Northeast Montana
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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| burnt wrote: |
I recently brought home from the library a book by Pearl S. Buck titled "The Good Earth". written in 1932 (I think). I am now looking to find a copy for my own library.
Anybody who loves the land could enjoy this meaningful story about a Chinese peasant who started with almost nothing and built great wealth and holdings by hard work on his land and using opportunity as it came along. A terrific read that resonates with anyone who values the land and all that it means. |
That was a mandatory read book in Literature class when I was in High School... We discussed it for weeks....
Buck won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature-- and has a couple more books out that continue the good earth story (altho to me were not as good)- and several good short stories....
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MsSage
Rancher
Joined: 27 Oct 2005
Posts: 4594
Location: NW Panhandle Texas
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:42 am Post subject: |
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I am trying to read a Nevada Barr Anna Pigeon novel "Ill Wind"
She is a park ranger in all her novels. It takes place in Mesa Verde in Colorado.
They all are quick reads. Some have romance in them others are just murder mystery. I have read 4 or 5 of her other books all in different parks.
I know last year I started rereading the classics and books I "had" to read in school. Some , what I remember and what I got out of it today are 2 different things. Most I enjoyed more today then back then LOL. I know a couple are not what I remember but then it could be because of growing up and seeing the other side.
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LazyWP
Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2009
Posts: 543
Location: about 40 miles southeast of Soapweed
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 7:33 am Post subject: |
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| I know if you read much of the "old west" the cowboys were always trading books around. Part of that was because the books were heavy, but part of it was because books just weren't that available. In all seriousness, paper books really only enjoyed a 100 year run. Now they are all electronic.
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TexasBred
Rancher
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 2923
Location: Heart of Texas
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:08 am Post subject: |
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| burnt wrote: |
I recently brought home from the library a book by Pearl S. Buck titled "The Good Earth". written in 1932 (I think). I am now looking to find a copy for my own library.
Anybody who loves the land could enjoy this meaningful story about a Chinese peasant who started with almost nothing and built great wealth and holdings by hard work on his land and using opportunity as it came along. A terrific read that resonates with anyone who values the land and all that it means. |
Burnt I read that also many years ago. Very good book.
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Jigger Boss
Rancher
Joined: 18 Jan 2007
Posts: 1149
Location: Lakes District, BC
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:06 am Post subject: Re: Reading |
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| Soapweed wrote: |
| Nicky wrote: |
| When did books become readily available for the public? I know books were available in the 1500's, but when did they become readily available and when did the 'common man' have the teaching to be able to read? |
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I did read a good book last week. It is called RANGER CONFIDENTIAL by Andrea Lankford, and is about being a park ranger. This book gave me a whole new appreciation of some of the situations that park rangers have to deal with on a daily basis. It is a bit R-rated, but I gladly give my endorsement and "thumbs up."
http://www.andrealankford.com/rangerconfidential/rangerconfidential.html |
You might like the Sid Marty books Soapweed. He was a Banff Park Warden.
http://www.sidmarty.com/books
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Soapweed
Rancher
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 12096
Location: northern Nebraska Sandhills
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 7:18 pm Post subject: Re: Reading |
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| Jigger Boss wrote: |
| Soapweed wrote: |
| Nicky wrote: |
| When did books become readily available for the public? I know books were available in the 1500's, but when did they become readily available and when did the 'common man' have the teaching to be able to read? |
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I did read a good book last week. It is called RANGER CONFIDENTIAL by Andrea Lankford, and is about being a park ranger. This book gave me a whole new appreciation of some of the situations that park rangers have to deal with on a daily basis. It is a bit R-rated, but I gladly give my endorsement and "thumbs up."
http://www.andrealankford.com/rangerconfidential/rangerconfidential.html |
You might like the Sid Marty books Soapweed. He was a Banff Park Warden.
http://www.sidmarty.com/books |
Thanks for the tip. I'll have to check that out.
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Jigger Boss
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Joined: 18 Jan 2007
Posts: 1149
Location: Lakes District, BC
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