Emma Smith on Burning Books

In this episode, 'This is Shakespeare' author Emma Smith joins us to discuss her latest book, 'Portable Magic,' an iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why, and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium's worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals that, as much as their contents, it is books' physical form - their 'bookhood' - that lends them their distinctive and sometimes dangerous magic.

Emma spoke to us about why she feels it is important not to overly romanticise the book form, as historically books have been at the center of powerful authoritarian movements such as Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' or Mao's 'Red Book.'

While that description may lead you to think that our conversation has a contrarian streak, in reality, you have never heard three people speak more enthusiastically, or indeed more exhaustively, about books. Trust us when we say we have left no page unturned.

This is truly The Hatchards Podcast at its most unabridged. For book lovers, is there anything better?