So Many Books, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Gabriel Zaid

ISBN 10: 1589882075 / ISBN 13: 9781589882072

Published by Paul Dry Books, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. A charming new edition of a much-loved book about books"A playful celebrant of literary proliferation."--New Yorker In So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid offers his observations on the literary condition: a highly original analysis of the predicament that readers, authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and teachers find themselves in today--when there are simply more books than any of us can contemplate.Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer, this second edition includes a new introduction by Robin Sloan and delightful illustrations by Grant Silverstein. Robin Sloan writes in his introduction, "This slim volume is above all a book about vastness; about oceanic tides of language, about the feelings they produce, for writer and reader alike. About how words work in the marketplace, and how they fail to work, too. About books and the internet and culture itself." Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781589882072

Bibliographic Details

• Title: So Many Books, 2nd Edition (Paperback)
• Publisher: Paul Dry Books
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589882075
• ISBN 13: 9781589882072
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Silverstein, Grant
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A charming new edition of a much-loved book about books

“A playful celebrant of literary proliferation.”—New Yorker 

In So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid offers his observations on the literary condition: a highly original analysis of the predicament that readers, authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and teachers find themselves in today—when there are simply more books than any of us can contemplate.

Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer, this second edition includes a new introduction by Robin Sloan and delightful illustrations by Grant Silverstein. Robin Sloan writes in his introduction, “This slim volume is above all a book about vastness; about oceanic tides of language, about the feelings they produce, for writer and reader alike. About how words work in the marketplace, and how they fail to work, too. About books and the internet and culture itself.”

About the Authors

Gabriel Zaid's poetry, essays, social and cultural criticism, and business writings have been widely published throughout the Spanish-speaking world. He lives in Mexico City with the artist Basia Batorska, her paintings, three cats, and ten thousand books.

Robin Sloan is the author of the novels Moonbound, Sourdough, and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. He splits his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Natasha Wimmer is an editor and a translator in New York City. Her translations include The Savage Detectives and 2666 by Roberto Bolaño and You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue.

Grant Silverstein specializes in etchings of a narrative character and in studies of figures, landscapes, and animals. He has illustrated several previous Paul Dry Books titles including Girlatee and The Battle Between the Frogs and the Mice. Silverstein lives in rural Pennsylvania.