Baker, Nicholson

Double fold : libraries and the assault on paper by Nicholson Baker( Book )
21 editions published between 2001 and 2002 in English and Undetermined and held by 2,413 libraries worldwide
"Since the 1950s, our country's libraries have followed a policy of "destroying to preserve": They have methodically dismantled their collections of original bound newspapers, cut up hundreds of thousands of so-called brittle books, and replaced them with microfilmed copies - copies that are difficult to read, lack all the color and quality of the original paper and illustrations, and deteriorate with age. Half a century on, the results on this policy are jarringly apparent: There are no longer any complete editions remaining of most of America's great newspapers. The loss to historians and future generations in inestimable." "In this book, writer Nicholson Baker explains the marketing of the brittle-paper crisis and the real motives behind it. Pleading the case for saving our newspapers and books so that they can continue to be read in their original forms, he tells how and why our greatest research libraries betrayed the public's trust by selling off or pulping irreplaceable collections. The players include the Library of Congress, the CIA, NASA, microfilm lobbyists, newspaper dealers, and a colorful array of librarians and digital futurists, as well as Baker himself, who discovers that the only way to save one important newspaper archive is to cash in his retirement savings and buy it - all twenty tons of it."--BOOK JACKET.

Human smoke : the beginnings of World War II, the end of civilization by Nicholson Baker( Book )
31 editions published between 2007 and 2010 in 4 languages and held by 1,866 libraries worldwide
This wide-ranging, fresh perspective on the political and social landscape that gave rise to World War II delivers a moving indictment of the treasured myths that have romanticized much of the 1930s and 1940s. Incorporating meticulous research and well-documented sources--including newspaper and magazine articles, radio speeches, memoirs, and diaries--the book juxtaposes hundreds of interrelated moments of decision, brutality, suffering, and mercy. Vivid glimpses of political leaders and their dissenters illuminate the gradual, horrifying advance toward global war and holocaust. Baker's narrative unfolds gracefully, tragically, and persuasively, leaving a profound impact on our perceptions of historical events and mourning the unthinkable loss humanity has borne at its own hand.--From publisher description.

Vox : a novel by Nicholson Baker( Book )
50 editions published between 1992 and 2011 in 16 languages and held by 1,473 libraries worldwide
A man and a woman, residents of distant cities, share a telephone conversation with increasing levels of self-disclosure.

The anthologist by Nicholson Baker( Book )
20 editions published between 2009 and 2010 in English and German and held by 1,432 libraries worldwide
"The Anthologist is narrated by Paul Chowder - a once-in-a-while-published kind of poet who is writing the introduction to a new anthology of poetry. He's having a hard time getting started because his career is floundering, his girlfriend Roz has recently left him, and he is thinking about the great poets throughout history who have suffered far worse and deserve to feel sorry for themselves. He has also promised to reveal many wonderful secrets and tips and tricks about poetry, and it looks like the introduction will be a little longer than he'd thought." "What unfolds is a wholly entertaining and beguiling love story about poetry: from Tennyson, Swinburne, and Yeats to the moderns (Roethke, Bogan, Merwin) to the staff of The New Yorker, what Paul reveals is astonishing and makes one realize how incredibly important poetry is to our lives. At the same time, Paul barely manages to realize all of this himself, and the result is a tenderly romantic, hilarious, and inspired novel."--BOOK JACKET.

A box of matches : a novel by Nicholson Baker( Book )
25 editions published between 2003 and 2006 in 5 languages and held by 1,314 libraries worldwide
A box of matches is the record of an untumultuous month in the life of Emmett, a forty-five-year-old editor of medical textbooks. Emmett has a wife and children, a cat, and a duck, and he wants to know what life is about. Every day he gets up before dawn, makes a cup of coffee in the dark, lights a fire with one wooden match, and thinks. What Emmett thinks about is the subject of this wise and closely observed novel, which covers vast distances while moving no farther than Emmett's hearth and home.

The Fermata by Nicholson Baker( Book )
24 editions published between 1993 and 2004 in 7 languages and held by 1,104 libraries worldwide
Arno Strine explains, in his autobiography, about the fermata (or fold) and how he stops time and takes women's clothes off.

Checkpoint by Nicholson Baker( Book )
16 editions published between 2004 and 2005 in 5 languages and held by 1,097 libraries worldwide
During a conversation between two old friends, Ben and Jay, the two men discuss cameras, the effects of Wal-Mart on American culture, Iraq, abortion, free-range chickens, light bulbs, the figures in McDonald's Happy Meals, and Jay's upcoming plans to assassinate President Bush, in a darkly funny, provocative novella by the author of VOX.

The mezzanine : a novel by Nicholson Baker( Book )
31 editions published between 1986 and 2011 in 5 languages and held by 1,008 libraries worldwide

The size of thoughts : essays and other lumber by Nicholson Baker( Book )
15 editions published between 1996 and 1997 in English and held by 965 libraries worldwide
Novelist Nicholson Baker, author of The Mezzanine and Vox and called by Vanity Fair "the best American writer of his generation," here collects over a decade's worth of essays and journalism, including his controversial and highly praised 1994 article on the destruction of library card catalogs. His subjects range from the internals of the movie projector to the emotional tribulations of reading aloud; from the disappearance of hybrid punctuation to the mechanics of changing one's mind; from the lexicography of dirty talk to the manufacture of the fingernail clipper. There is a wedding address, a study of the not-so-random books that are used as props in mail-order catalogs, and a recipe.

The everlasting story of Nory : a novel by Nicholson Baker( Book )
20 editions published between 1997 and 2002 in 5 languages and held by 956 libraries worldwide
A child's view of the world. She is Eleanor Winslow, a precocious nine-year-old whose American parents move to England. She has opinions on many subjects--friendship, monsters, injustice--which she expresses in a monologue.