This is a book about books, about the power of reading, and about the strange nature of books as objects. While the predicted decline in book publishing and book buying hasn't happened, the question of why we should read books at all is still a pressing one. Yet who can imagine a life without reading? Ever since he was a boy, Ian Patterson knew he wanted to have a library. This book sets out to trace the changing enthusiasms and shifting fortunes through which his library grew (and sometimes diminished); and by thinking back over the part books have played in his life, to make a case for the importance of books, reading and the crucial potential of literature - fiction, poetry, essays - in our lives if we know how to approach it. HOW TO BUILD A LIBRARY is about the rich pleasures and powers of reading and imagination, an account of some of the books that have meant most to Ian during his life, and a primer in how to make the most of what we read.