Peter Briscoe has had the pleasure not only of living with books as a reader but also of making them his life’s work as a librarian and writer. For more than 30 years he built library collections at two universities. A specialist in collection development, book acquisitions, special collections, and preservation, he directed efforts that led to the purchase or donation of 1.5 million volumes from all over the world on nearly all subjects. He loved his job but increasingly worried about the fate of books and reading in a digital, post-literate world. This problem is one of the themes in his writing. Briscoe is Associate University Librarian Emeritus at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author or co-author of five books, including The Best-Read Man in France, Reading the Map of Knowledge, and Mexico at the Hour of Combat. His academic writing has appeared in College & Research Libraries. Things French and Spanish, especially as spoken in Latin America, fire him up. When he is not reading or writing, he enjoys cooking and hardwood barbecuing.