Reader's Companion: A Book Lover's Guide to the Most Important Books in Every Field of Knowledge as Chosen by the Experts

Politicians, historians, movie stars, religious figures, and authors offer suggestions for the finest books in a wide range of fields and reveal those titles that have most affected their lives, in an easy-to-use, entertaining reference. Reprint.

Despite its potential use in readers advisory, collection development, and reference, the big appeal of this little book lies in the voyeuristic fun, the People magazine-like pleasure of getting inside the heads and reading habits of noted writers, thinkers, scholars, and artists. Bratman and Lewis have asked a wide variety of people, noted in their fields, to contribute a list of books that have significantly affected their lives or careers. Hence, we hear Bill Bradley and Oliver Stone on politics, Robert Ludlum and Marge Piercy on fiction, Jonathan Kozol on poverty, Robert Coles on the family, Arthur Ashe on sports, James McPherson on the Civil War, and Jonathan Spence on China. Avoiding the temptation to narrow the focus or standardize the presentation, these contributors offer diverse responses. The result is nine broad subject chapters (current affairs, the arts, the nature of society, science, etc.) containing the responses of the individual "experts" on aspects of each topic. Some of the experts give essays explaining their reading, some annotations justifying their selections, and some only spare lists. This is not a comprehensive work in any way, but it is fun and thought-provoking.
Paul D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., Me.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.