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, who attained the rank of Distinguished Librarian at the University of California, Riverside, and subsequently that of Associate University Librarian, is now Emeritus. He is the author or co-author of six books, including a translation from the French of José Cabanis' novel, Night Games, The Best-Read Man in France, Reading the Map of Knowledge, Mexico at the Hour of Combat, and The Bookseller: Stories. 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 barbecuing.

According to Archilochos, the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. I am a fox as a reader, but a hedgehog as a writer. I write about what I know. Contact: peterbriscoebooks@gmail.com