"Humanities Two is paltry, however, compared to where the real action is: Rare Books and Music, Oriental and India Office Collections, and Manuscripts. One is only allowed to use a pencil in these hallowed rooms, which tends to weed out, as Eliane Glaser puts it, "the normal people. You see a lot of strange behaviour in Rare Books. I remember a time when a young man's mobile phone went off and all these grey-haired academics rose up as one and closed in on the poor guy. I really thought they were going to lynch him."

Read this article.