Nick in the News
CSPAN BookTV
November 07, 2008 The journalist & author Nicholas Basbanes writes books about books including the best-selling A Gentle Madness. Watch the Video
On the Book Beat
April 13, 2008 A little over twenty years ago, I stood nervously in front of a young woman who managed a mall bookstore in Boston suburb and told her she should give me a job because “I really love to read.” She shrugged, made sure I could count back change, and hired me. It was a landmark moment. It was the beginning of my career in books. Continue Reading
Editions & Impressions: Twenty Years on the Book Beat
February 23, 2008 If anyone in the United States is truly a book person, surely it is Nicholas A. Basbanes. For two decades, the literary critic and columnist has cast a fond, even loving eye, on the culture of books, their substance, their wider meaning in society and the people who—in ways similar and markedly different—share his passion. Continue Reading
The Book on Books
March 14, 2004 Any modern book reviewer will vouch for the astuteness of the writer of Ecclesiastes, who observed, “Of the writing of books, there is no end.” In the case of Nicholas Basbanes, himself a former newspaper book critic, that might be amended to read, “Of the writing of books about books, there is no end.” Continue Reading
The Diane Rehm Show
Monday February 9, 2004 In the age of digital media, what happens to the bookshelf? Nicholas Basbanes, an author of "books about books," talks about the history of storage and preservation of information, from clay tablets to paper-and-covers to "E-books." Listen to the Show
Thursday November 8, 2001Nicholas Basbanes explores the culture of book lovers, librarians, and collectors in his new work. The title comes from the names of the famous stone lions found at the entrance to New York City’s public library. Listen to the Show
The Library of Congress Books & Beyond
November 8, 2001 Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places and Book Culture was discussed by its author, Nicholas A Basbanes, at the Library of Congress as part of the Center for the Book’s “Books & Beyond” author series. View Cybercast
Interview with Brian Lamb of CSPAN Booknotes
October 15, 1995 BRIAN LAMB: Nicholas A. Basbanes, author of "A Gentle Madness." Where did you get that title?
NICHOLAS BASBANES: I coined it, actually. It was a description made of Isaiah Thomas, a great 19th-century American bibliophile and collector. And when he died, his grandson, Benjamin Franklin Thomas, said, "Grandfather was afflicted from the earliest age with the gentlest of infirmities: He was a bibliomaniac." And when I saw that description of him, I said, "There's my title." Continue Reading