Rubery (literature, Queen Mary Univ. of London; The Novelty of Newspapers) includes numerous anecdotes as he charts the evolution of the audiobook in Britain, as well as the United States, from talking books for the blind to the modern-day books on CD and the popular digital audiobook company Audible. Few audiobook enthusiasts realize that the format originated with Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1877, when he recorded "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The early tinfoil cylinders could only record short passages, though, technology for the full-length novel not evolving until the 1930s with talking books for blind veterans. Accompanying the technological advances came numerous debates over which titles should be recorded, what readers were best suited to the medium, and whether recorded books would make print obsolete. Blind readers insisted on best sellers along with the classics, and some even requested pornography, which naturally caused even more heated disputes. While at times Rubery's scholarly microscope provides more information than necessary, he raises fascinating questions about the experience of reading vs. listening and whether converting a book to an audio format diminishes or enhances its effect. VERDICT Readers interested in how audiobooks have become a favorite way to experience literature will want to read this book.—Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo