# The Gifts of Reading

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/robert-macfarlane/the-gifts-of-reading/9780241978313

![The Gifts of Reading](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/robert-macfarlane/the-gifts-of-reading_978-02-4197-831-3.jpg?v=2026-04-25%2016%3A54%3A05)

- Book: [The Gifts of Reading](https://www.bookquiver.com/robert-macfarlane/the-gifts-of-reading) ([The Gifts of Reading.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/robert-macfarlane/the-gifts-of-reading.md))
- Authors: [Robert Macfarlane](https://www.bookquiver.com/robert-macfarlane)
- Publisher: Penguin
- ISBN: 978-02-4197-831-3
- Pages: 48
- Published: 2017-06-01
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

Every book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves both participants the richer. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt. From one of our most lyrical writers comes a short and intensely moving essay on the power, beauty and value of the given book.