17 must-read historical books like The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth

Cover of The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth

The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

By: Adam Smyth

3.89

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

The five-hundred-year history of printed books, told through the people who created them Books t…

If you liked the historical plot in The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth , here is a list of 17 books like this:

Cover of Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester

1. Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic

By: Simon Winchester

3.84

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergart… read more

Similar categories in Simon Winchester's Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • history
  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • books about books
  • audiobook
Cover of The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides

2. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

By: Hampton Sides

4.51

Format: 408 pages, Hardcover

From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, an epic account of the most momentous voyage … read more

Similar categories in Hampton Sides's The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • historical
  • biography memoir
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy

3. Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

By: Jonathan Kennedy

3.94

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

An account of how the major transformations in history—from the rise of Homo sapiens to the birth o… read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Kennedy's Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
"Pathogens thrive on inequality and injustice."

-Jonathan Kennedy, Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

"Across the whole of the Americas, the introduction of infectious diseases from Europe resulted in a 90 percent fall in the population, from about 60.5 million in 1500 to 6 million a century later."

-Jonathan Kennedy, Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

"There is one universally incorrect choice: do nothing. This didn't work when humans thought that plagues were a punishment sent by angry gods. Nor does a laissez-faire approach help stop disease when…"

-Jonathan Kennedy, Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

Cover of The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger

4. The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

By: Zoë Schlanger

4.37

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

Award-winning environment and science reporter Zoë Schlanger delivers a groundbreaking work of popu… read more

Similar categories in Zoë Schlanger's The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power by Dana Mattioli

5. The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power

By: Dana Mattioli

4.10

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

From veteran Amazon reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in in… read more

Similar categories in Dana Mattioli's The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore

6. The Wealth of Shadows

By: Graham Moore

4.17

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

An ordinary man joins a secret mission to bring down the Nazi war machine by crashing their economy… read more

Similar categories in Graham Moore's The Wealth of Shadows book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
Cover of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President by Edward F. O'Keefe

7. The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President

By: Edward F. O'Keefe

4.25

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

A spirited and poignant family love story, revealing how an icon of rugged American masculinity was… read more

Similar categories in Edward F. O'Keefe's The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • historical
  • biography memoir
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

8. Enlightenment

By: Sarah Perry

3.70

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

A dazzling new work of literary fiction from the author of The Essex Serpent, a story of love and a… read more

Similar categories in Sarah Perry's Enlightenment book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • audiobook
"Thomas [Hart] lived where he'd been born, and where (so he often thought without rancor) he'd very likely die; and if he lived alone he was not lonely, that being a condition not of solitude but of l…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

"So I told her this: that it's true I've only rarely been happy, and perhaps more often been sad. But I have been content. I have lived. I have felt everything available to me: I've been faithless, de…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

"I wish I could say, James, that we forgave each other in the end. I wish I could say: she put her head on my shoulder and I welcomed it and we laughed and said all was well. But in fact we were quiet…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

"...in the ordinary way we love because we're loved, and give more or less what we're given. But to love without return is more strange and more wonderful, and not the humiliating thing I'd once taken…"

-Sarah Perry, Enlightenment

Cover of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

9. Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

By: Adam Higginbotham

4.60

Format: 576 pages, Hardcover

The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster based on new archival r… read more

Similar categories in Adam Higginbotham's Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"When asked what he was thinking about when preparing for launch abroad his Mercury-Redstone rocket, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, had infamously replied, "The fact that every part of thi…"

-Adam Higginbotham, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

"At the foot of the ladder, he [Gene Cernan Apollo 17] delivered the short speech he had memorized for the occasion. "Is like to just say what I believe history will record: That America's challenge o…"

-Adam Higginbotham, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

Cover of The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic by Daniel de Visé

10. The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic

By: Daniel de Visé

4.25

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

The story of the epic friendship between John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the golden era of improv, an… read more

Similar categories in Daniel de Visé's The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • biography memoir
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Floating Hotel by Grace  Curtis

11. Floating Hotel

By: Grace Curtis

3.70

Format: 324 pages, Kindle Edition

This cozy debut science fiction novel tells a story of misfits, rebels, found family—and a mystery … read more

Similar categories in Grace Curtis's Floating Hotel book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

Cover of Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World by Eric Jay Dolin

12. Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World

By: Eric Jay Dolin

3.97

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

The true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812―a tale of… read more

Similar categories in Eric Jay Dolin's Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day by Garrett M. Graff

13. When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day

By: Garrett M. Graff

4.59

Format: 608 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky and Pulitzer Prize finalist… read more

Similar categories in Garrett M. Graff's When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of Moonbound by Robin Sloan

14. Moonbound

By: Robin Sloan

4.09

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

Robin Sloan expands the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space in a rollicking far-future a… read more

Similar categories in Robin Sloan's Moonbound book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • audiobook
Cover of The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth

15. The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

By: Adam Smyth

3.89

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

The five-hundred-year history of printed books, told through the people who created them Books t… read more

Similar categories in Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • literature
  • historical
  • biography memoir
  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
  • audiobook
Cover of The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. Franklin

16. The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America

By: Sara B. Franklin

4.26

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

The woman behind some of the most important authors of the 20th century—including Julia Child, Anne… read more

Similar categories in Sara B. Franklin's The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • biography memoir
  • nonfiction
  • books about books
  • audiobook
Cover of Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

17. Lost Ark Dreaming

By: Suyi Davies Okungbowa

3.69

Format: 179 pages, Hardcover

The brutally engineered class divisions of Snowpiercer meets Rivers Solomon’s The Deep in this high… read more

Similar categories in Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Lost Ark Dreaming book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

Cover of There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

18. There Are Rivers in the Sky

By: Elif Shafak

4.58

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

From the Booker Prize finalist author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about … read more

Similar categories in Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • literature
  • historical
  • audiobook
"Books, like paper lanterns, provide us with a light amidst the fog."

-Elif Shafak, There Are Rivers in the Sky

Cover of I, Julian by Claire Gilbert

19. I, Julian

By: Claire Gilbert

4.27

Format: 208 pages, Hardcover

'So I will write in English, pressing new words from this beautiful plain language spoken by all. N… read more

Similar categories in Claire Gilbert's I, Julian book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
Cover of A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes by Anthony Bale

20. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

By: Anthony Bale

3.76

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

A captivating journey of the expansive world of medieval travel, from London to Constantinople to t… read more

Similar categories in Anthony Bale's A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
"travel opens the mind in unpredictable ways"

-Anthony Bale, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

"Jerusalem is a city of unfinished projects."

-Anthony Bale, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

"Travel forms communities, but not always harmoniously."

-Anthony Bale, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

"Holy ground can look startlingly ordinary, especially when one’s standing on it."

-Anthony Bale, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

Cover of Cairn by Kathleen Jamie

21. Cairn

By: Kathleen Jamie

4.34

Format: 136 pages, Paperback

Cairn: A marker on open land, a memorial, a viewpoint shared by strangers. For the last five yea… read more

Similar categories in Kathleen Jamie's Cairn book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • nonfiction
Cover of The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower by Michel Paradis

22. The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower

By: Michel Paradis

4.46

Format: 528 pages, Hardcover

A thrilling new biography of Dwight Eisenhower set in the months leading up to D-Day, when he grew … read more

Similar categories in Michel Paradis's The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • history
  • biography
  • nonfiction
Cover of The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John Strausbaugh

23. The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned

By: John Strausbaugh

4.17

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

A witty, deeply researched history of the surprisingly ramshackle Soviet space program, and how its… read more

Similar categories in John Strausbaugh's The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of The Swimmer: The Wild Life of Roger Deakin by Patrick Barkham

24. The Swimmer: The Wild Life of Roger Deakin

By: Patrick Barkham

4.13

Format: 365 pages, Hardcover

The definitive biography of beloved author, Roger DeakinRoger Deakin, author of the immortal Waterl… read more

Similar categories in Patrick Barkham's The Swimmer: The Wild Life of Roger Deakin book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • nonfiction
  • biography
Cover of The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War, #1) by James S.A. Corey

25. The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War, #1)

By: James S.A. Corey

4.24

Format: 422 pages, Hardcover

How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is ab… read more

Similar categories in James S.A. Corey's The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War, #1) book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • audiobook
Cover of Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food by Michelle T. King

26. Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food

By: Michelle T. King

3.89

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

A remarkable food-infused cultural history, centered on the life of celebrity television chef and c… read more

Similar categories in Michelle T. King's Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • biography
  • history
  • biography memoir
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves by Nicola Twilley

27. Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves

By: Nicola Twilley

4.26

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

An engaging and far-reaching exploration of refrigeration, tracing its evolution from scientific my… read more

Similar categories in Nicola Twilley's Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss

28. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

By: Evan Friss

4.18

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cu… read more

Similar categories in Evan Friss's The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • history
  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
  • audiobook
Cover of Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World by Edward Dolnick

29. Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World

By: Edward Dolnick

3.97

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

A historical adventure story about the eccentric Victorians who discovered dinosaur bones, leading … read more

Similar categories in Edward Dolnick's Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps by Jonn Elledge

30. A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps

By: Jonn Elledge

4.39

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

A fascinating and surprising history of the world told through the lines people have drawn on maps … read more

Similar categories in Jonn Elledge's A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • historical
  • nonfiction
  • history
Cover of The Mechanics of Memory by Audrey     Lee

31. The Mechanics of Memory

By: Audrey Lee

4.09

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

Never Forget. Memory is Copeland-Stark’s business. Yet after months of reconsolidation treatmen… read more

Similar categories in Audrey Lee's The Mechanics of Memory book and Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives

  • audiobook

23 must-read audiobook books like The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth

Transform Your Habits

Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic

Simon Winchester

3.84

Transform Your Habits

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Hampton Sides

4.51

Transform Your Habits

Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

Jonathan Kennedy

3.94

Transform Your Habits

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

Zoë Schlanger

4.37

View all the books

20 best-selling audiobook books like Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy

Transform Your Habits

Blight: Fungi and the Coming Pandemic

Emily Monosson

3.87

Transform Your Habits

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara

4.37

Transform Your Habits

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

Timothy Egan

4.38

Transform Your Habits

Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail

Andrea Lankford

3.76

View all the books

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