From disrupting the Western myth that the Gutenberg Press was the original printing project, to the decorative gift books that radicalized women to join the anti-slavery movement, to paperbacks being weaponized during World War II, to a book made entirely of plastic-wrapped slices of American cheese,Portable Magicexplores how, when, and why books became so iconic. Its not just the content within a book that compels; its the physical material itself, what Smith calls bookhood: the smell, the feel of the pages, the margins to scribble in, the illustrations on the jacket, its solid heft. Every book is designed to influence our reading experienceto enchant, enrage, delight, and disturb usand our longstanding love affair with books in turn has had direct, momentous consequences across time. Written Emma Smith. Hardcover;352 pages.