Writers and Editors

After an injury left Leah Price unable to sit for months, she got a new perspective on back health and on book reading, which isn't so easy standing or lying down. In Bent Spines (NY Times Book Review 2-25-11) she weaves together the fascinating history of reading formats (oratory was done standing up) and her own need to deal with muscle spasms and back pain. Her conclusion: "In the end, my own cure was homeopathic. Books had sickened me, and books saved me."