Library Book

The author' strategy is to take a subject and then explore all the places the research leads, whether from printed source material, interviews, so her own observation of the thing in question. The 1986 central library fire in Los Angeles prompted deep-dives into the full history of the library and all its directors, the architecture of the building and its neighbors, observations of its clientele, arson investigations in general and how reliable they are, the life of the one person who was suspected for a time of causing the fire, new technology adoption by libraries around the world, preservation of fire, smoke, and water damaged library materials, and a slew of other tangentially related excursions no one is likely to expect. She also shares the personal connection she has with reading and libraries dating back to her childhood. A member of the images and characters appear larger than life in the telling, while others lead to ambiguities and dead ends. I would not be surprised to hear that more than half the material the author gathered was left out from the final draft, judging from how wide-ranging the book turned out. It is instructive, too, to know why such a large and costly disaster seems largely forgotten thirty plus years later. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook read by the author, who must be the best person to know how to put the emphasis in each little episode to convey what the listener is to take away. It sounds as though the L.A. library and other large collections learned from the disaster which might help avoid the same kind of loss from happening in the future.