The Study

In this book about books, Andrew Hui traces the history of the Renaissance studiolo (a “little studio”) to modern examples of personal libraries, to reveal the positives and negatives of solitary reading. This celebration of bibliophilia and cautious tale of bibliomania takes readers on a literary journey through Hui’s own experiences and those of others known to have intimate studies including Michel de Montaigne and Niccolo Machiavelli. He also explores the experiences of figures like Don Quixote, who was driven to madness. The Study (Princeton University Press) offers a unique meditation on reading, misreading, and how the history of libraries is relevant today.