Reading the Room

"Reading the Room is Paul Yamazaki's love letter to the work of bookselling and an engaged life of the mind. Over twenty-four hours, Yamazaki leads us through the stacks of storied City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, the care and prowess of his approach to book buying, his upbringing in a Japanese American family in Southern California and moving to San Francisco at the height of revolutionary foment, working with legendary figures in the book publishing industry, and his vision for the future of bookselling. Yamazaki testifies to the value of generosity, sharing knowledge, and dialogue in a life devoted to books." -- Back cover