Apparently this book usually is found in 809, but obviously I couldn't wait that long, and I would have put in the 30's, along with the other books about reading. Or not reading. Turns out there is a case to be made, by Umberto Eco (among others who are extensively quoted here), for making the choice to not read books. Skimming them, or indeed just hearing other people talk about them, may be just as good as actually reading them, especially given the high probability that in 10 years you will have pretty much forgotten them anyway. I think of James Joyce's Ulysses. I've heard a lot about it. I've read a page of it. I read ALL of The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, pretty much to my regret. And, based on all that information, I cannot imagine the circumstance which would cause me to regret not actually having waded through all of that notorious experiment in the abuse of English! So I'm glad I now have some theoretical justification for this stance.
What's your favorite book to talk about without reading?
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