A fascinating, erudite, and insightful book. Selcer's use of 'figures of material inscription' - from books and letters to the library and the encyclopedia - to interrogate the great questions of early modern philosophy - matter and spirit, space and time, chance and necessity, ignorance and knowledge - is inspired and rewarding. Selcer doesn't merely track down metaphors, but does philosophy, working where all philosophy must, at the intersection of the corporeal and the conceptual. A tremendously enjoyable intellectual experience.

John Protevi, Louisiana State University, USA

This is a thoughtful and interesting book that deals intelligently with the materialist theories of a number of influential Continental philosophers and as such is particularly useful for students of early modern philosophy interested in some of the ways that the subject interacted with print culture.

English Historical Review, vol. CXXVI, no 523

Philosophy and the Book... is a challenging account, offering novel readings of key writings by Bayle, Leibniz, Descartes and Spinoza, and new models for our own engagements with the printed page and its successors.

Forum for Modern Language Studies, vol 48, no 1