The artists' book 'How to Shoplift Books' by David Horvitz is a guide on how to steal books. It details 80 ways in which one can steal a book, from the very practical, to the witty, imaginative and romantic. Originally published in 2013, this paperback reissue is making the sought after title available again at an affordable price (for those who don't yet know the techniques described within) and is released in multiple languages. This is the Australian edition, Eighty Ways to Steal a Book.

This publication originated in 2011 as a conversation in The Classroom at Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair. The Classroom is a series of informal events organised by David Senior.

'Hide the book inside a fake rock.' This textbook is readable, but also shamelessly draws attention to its existence as an object, a conversation starter, a thing that can be acquired by fair means or foul. This is a book that turns a point of sale display into an intellectual and ethical adventure. The work is romantic and anachronistic: as our primary source for buying books becomes impersonal online shops (that pretend to deliver a personal experience) it is almost impossible to spontaneously steal anything, and the act of disobedience becomes a story of the past. Horvitz's compendium of delightfully written performance instructions is a collection of modern culture scripts and is, so to speak, writing history.

David Horvitz is an American artist whose work is categorised as 'post-fluxus' and conceptual art. It includes artist books, installation, performance art and mail art.