Nick Basbanes is the author of eight books about various aspects of books and book culture. His first, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, was a finalist in 1995 for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His other books include: Patience & Fortitude; Among the Gently Mad; A Splendor of Letters; Every Book Its Reader; Editions & Impressions; A World of Letters, and About the Author. He is now completing a cultural history of paper and papermaking, to be published by Alfred A. Knopf, and titled Common Bond: Stories of a World Awash in Paper; it was the recipient in 2008 of a National Endowment for the Humanities research fellowship. An award-winning investigative reporter during the early 1970s, Basbanes was literary editor of the Worcester Sunday Telegramfrom 1978 to 1991, and for eight years after that wrote a column on books and authors that was syndicated nationally in thirty newspapers. In addition to his books, Basbanes lectures widely on book-related subjects, and reviews for The Los Angeles Times. His “Gently Mad” column and blog appear in Fine Books & Collections magazine, which is published monthly online, and quarterly in print.