The Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads from KERA's Think Podcast

[2010-10-05 13:00:00] Do you even have a phone book in your house or office anymore? We'll learn about the origins of the book and even people who obsessively collect old phone books this hour with Ammon Shea. His new book is "The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads" (Perigree, 2010).

KERA's Think Podcast

It sounds like a punch-line, but Ammon Shea has written a history of the phone book, really. What makes Ammon Shea's book "The Phone Book" more interesting than reading the actual phone book is the fact that Shea loves nothing more than a juicy tangent. So, in the course of "The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads," you will also learn about delivering mail by torpedo, and the habits of the cuttlefish, and Huey Long's recipe for Roquefort cheese salad dressing.

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