"To read Birkerts is to hear (and enjoy hearing) the voice of literary conscience." --Seamus Heaney

"Expansive and eclectic and laserous and lucid and impassioned and heartlessly smart. Birkerts is the most interesting and persuasive critic in the U.S. today." --David Foster Wallace

"Whether he is meditating on the new media technology, discussing his own failings, decrying post-modernism, or simply critiquing a new novel, Birkerts is a joy to read. The sincerity of his ideas shines through on every page, and his self-effacing candor is a refreshing change from the ironic critical stances that seem to dominate these days . . . Whether or not you agree with Birkerts's positions, you will find yourself ruminating on his themes long after you have finished reading." --Booklist

"Some of the most finely wrought, and deeply considered, criticism being written today." --Publishers Weekly