Did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. A happenstance mission to save all the Yiddish books, worldwide, becomes a grassroot journey, driven by the author, with many a mishap, history lesson and sit down dinner. The stories told by the numerous book donators were heartwarming, heartbreaking and humorous. I picked up a few Yiddish words that are now part of my vocabulary and learned a lot about the tenacity of preservation. A truly amazing story of how driving dilapidated rental trucks with nickle and dime finances eventually led to a multi-million dollar library housing over a million Yiddish publications. A Bravo! read.

I love reading about modern hunts for lost treasures and this book did not disappoint. It educated me, a 13th gen WASP, on some of the historical perspective and culture of Jewish and Yiddish life. Some of it was a bit hard to grasp for me towards the end, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t well written. Highly recommend for anyone who loves books or wants to learn more about Jewish and Yiddish life.

Historical amnesia is a dangerous malady, especially for a people whose identity is as dependent on historical memory as ours.

an egoistic circle-jerk. the ybc is a formidable institution, but lansky should be ashamed of this awful and frankly embarrassing depiction of how he created a cult of personality around himself and his accomplishment of *supposedly* rescuing “the world’s yiddish books” all by his lonesome.

This is an absolutely brilliant book of a series of wonderful stories. I loved every word!

FABULOUS and well-written story! A modern Jewish man who decides to start studying Yiddish finds that books are difficult to find. But then discovers that older Yiddish-speaking Jews are dying and books are being thrown out--so he decides to rescue them. All of them. A million and a half and counting! This was valuable for the history of Yiddish and European Jewry; it was a great story of how a small handful of people can end up making an enormous difference; AND it was so well-written and funny that it was a joy to read. Loved it!

Excellent, especially for a book lover.

Really fascinating.

3.5