Surprisingly boring.

I very much enjoyed this book ... and even more so after the fact after doing a little research and discovered that the Marie Antoinette is not a figment of the author's imagination but, in fact, very real, and that its theft was as described in the book.

(FACT UPDATE: I was delighted to learn that, 25 years after the occurrence of the theft described in the novel and several years after the book was written, the mystery was finally solved. All but a very few of the items stolen have been recovered, and it is expected that those may be, also.)

I have not read Kurzweil's previous book but, based on the recommendation of the friend who loaned me this one, I intend to do so.

librarians are pretty weird but sometimes funny

I love this type of novel that educates as well as entertains. Now I know a lot more about the Dewey Decimal Classification system and the things that go on in libraries. As for the entertaining part, the story is unique and fun but a bit weak.

Read in 2008 and I have no idea why. I really have no idea what I read and don't know where I heard about it. Big deal was supposed to be the end - page 360.
"All books have their fates"???
Chalk this one up.

An incredibly quirky story; the hero of the book works in a library and is fascinated by sources and facts. This connection with the library and his own curiosity gets him involved with an eccentric man who has more on his mind than just knowledge. Fun, strange, good.

Recommended to people who like books off the path of mainstream reading.

It isn't every day that you find a mystery-suspense novel about librarians, and these sort of books don't usually make for good airport reading. But this one did keep my attention riveted, was easy to jump into amidst the chaos of my reading environment, and had numerous section breaks inside short chapters so that I didn't mind multiple interruptions. I appreciated that the small gear which separated the sections turned by exactly 360 degrees throughout the book and that the pages numbered 360.
It would have been a 4 to 5 star book except for the ending, which landed with a thud.

I found this to be a quirky, entertaining book.

Loved this book. mystery. quirky librarian becomes involved in a cabinet of mysteries that is missing one item.

A wonderfully quirky novel, starring a protagonist with 18th century interests, living in the present and becoming embroiled in a mystery that that jumps between past and present. Delightfully eccentric

I like reading Kurzweil, But this was not as interesting, intense, or enjoyable as his first novel, A Case of Curiosities. The story has many levels and mysteries and some quirky characters, but I labored to get thru it. Now I must go back and reread his masterwork, since it has been about 5 years, and re-live the adventures of a young man of his quest for great people and great accomplishments.

I was bored, to be frank. Didn’t like the characters, thought the plot rambled and found it trying to be just too clever for its own good.