Too much to know : managing scholarly information before the modern age / Ann M. Blair.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blair, Ann, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reference books, Latin--Europe--History--16th century.

Reference books, Latin.

Reference books, Latin--Europe--History--17th century.

Reference books--History.

Reference books.

Communication in learning and scholarship--Europe--History--16th century.

Communication in learning and scholarship.

Communication in learning and scholarship--Europe--History--17th century.

Note-taking--History.

Note-taking.

Bibliography--Europe--History--16th century.

Bibliography.

Bibliography--Europe--History--17th century.

Europe--Intellectual life--16th century.

Europe.

Europe--Intellectual life--17th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (416 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The flood of information brought to us by advancing technology is often accompanied by a distressing sense of "information overload," yet this experience is not unique to modern times. In fact, says Ann M. Blair in this intriguing book, the invention of the printing press and the ensuing abundance of books provoked sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European scholars to register complaints very similar to our own. Blair examines methods of information management in ancient and medieval Europe as well as the Islamic world and China, then focuses particular attention on the organization, composition, and reception of Latin reference books in print in early modern Europe. She explores in detail the sophisticated and sometimes idiosyncratic techniques that scholars and readers developed in an era of new technology and exploding information.

Contents:

Information management in comparative perspective

Note-taking as information management

Reference genres and their finding devices

Compilers, their motivations and methods

The impact of early printed reference books.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-379) and index.

ISBN:

9780300168495

0300168497

OCLC:

961560143