Censorship, burning of copies, unique volumes, rare or dreamed, bibliomania and crime, the power of the book and the struggle between book and power, reading as an uncontrollable obsession, libraries as a mirror of their owners, of those who design or of those who imagine them, the burning fury for treasuring an infinite catalog or the learned ignorance of the professional librarian ... The always intelligent and passionate Hellenist Luciano Canfora offers us a series of entertaining and erudite reflections on the inexhaustible world of that object that, As Umberto Eco wrote, "It is just like a spoon, hammer, wheel or scissors. Once they have been invented, nothing better can be done."