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> 1. "Wow, have you read all these books?" means "I never read books." There's a short story, I think in one of my New Hugo Winners volumes, in which a charact

> 1. "Wow, have you read all these books?" means "I never read books." There's a short story, I think in one of my New Hugo Winners volumes, in which a character responds to that question with something like, "who the hell wants a library full of books they've already read?!" But yes, that's definitely the kind of question only someone who doesn't read much would ask. A great tell. [EDIT] Or, I guess, maybe a kid from a certain kind of background, reader or not, which I think might have been the case in that story, but from an adult? Yeah, pretty good signal.

EdwardDiego 4y ago
I tend to buy books that I found so great that I want to loan (Well, usually turns into gifting when it's books) to others. I've bought several copies of loangifted books now...
ThrowawayR2 4y ago
Perhaps inspired from the real world author, Umberto Eco? "... The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with “Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?” and the others—a very small minority—who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary. ..."
- rramadass 4y ago
  I came across this passage in NNT's works and i think it needs a little bit more elaboration for people to "get" it; 1) The "unread" books constitute the "known unknowns". They confirm the fact that you have mapped out a little bit more of the "unknown territory of knowledge" and can go explore them whenever you are in mind. 2) Having a large set of "unread" books keeps your curiosity, motivation and a sense of "knowledge exploration" alive. These are the driving forces which make "existence" bearable. Most people do not get out of their immediate sensory gratification bubble and are unaware of the "intellectual joy" outside of it. The above two factors have what has made "Civilization" as we know it, possible.
bcbrown 4y ago
"Many years ago," Gaspar said, taking out a copy of Moravia's The Adolescents and thumbing it as he spoke, "I had a library of books, oh, thousands of books -- never could bear to toss one out, not even the bad ones -- and when folks would come to the house to visit they'd look around at all the nooks and crannies stuffed with books; and if they were the sort of folks who don't snuggle with books, they'd always ask the same dumb question." He waited a moment for a response and when none was forthcoming (the sound of china cups on sink tile), he said, "Guess what the question was." From the kitchen, without much interest: "No idea." "They'd always ask it with the kind of voice people use in the presence of large sculptures in museums. They'd ask me, 'Have you read all these books?'" He waited again, but Billy Kinetta was not playing the game. "Well, young fella, after a while the same dumb question gets asked a million times, you get sorta snappish about it. And it came to annoy me more than a little bit. Till I finally figured out the right answer. "And you know what that answer was? Go ahead, take a guess." Billy appeared in the kitchenette doorway. "I suppose you told them you'd read a lot of them but not all of them." Gaspar waved the guess away with a flapping hand. "Now what good would that have done? They wouldn't know they'd asked a dumb question, but I didn't want to insult them, either. So when they'd ask if I'd read all those books, I'd say, 'Hell, no. Who wants a library full of books you've already read?'" http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/paladin.htm http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/paladin.htm
TigeriusKirk 4y ago
>"who the hell wants a library full of books they've already read?!" Harlan Ellison liked to say that a lot, and I'm sure he wrote down in a book at some point.
nevster 4y ago
I seem to recall an article or video about Umberto Eco saying something like "The value of a library lies in the unread books"

EdwardDiego 4y ago

I tend to buy books that I found so great that I want to loan (Well, usually turns into gifting when it's books) to others. I've bought several copies of loangifted books now...

ThrowawayR2 4y ago

Perhaps inspired from the real world author, Umberto Eco? "... The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with “Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?” and the others—a very small minority—who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary. ..."

rramadass 4y ago
I came across this passage in NNT's works and i think it needs a little bit more elaboration for people to "get" it; 1) The "unread" books constitute the "known unknowns". They confirm the fact that you have mapped out a little bit more of the "unknown territory of knowledge" and can go explore them whenever you are in mind. 2) Having a large set of "unread" books keeps your curiosity, motivation and a sense of "knowledge exploration" alive. These are the driving forces which make "existence" bearable. Most people do not get out of their immediate sensory gratification bubble and are unaware of the "intellectual joy" outside of it. The above two factors have what has made "Civilization" as we know it, possible.

bcbrown 4y ago

"Many years ago," Gaspar said, taking out a copy of Moravia's The Adolescents and thumbing it as he spoke, "I had a library of books, oh, thousands of books -- never could bear to toss one out, not even the bad ones -- and when folks would come to the house to visit they'd look around at all the nooks and crannies stuffed with books; and if they were the sort of folks who don't snuggle with books, they'd always ask the same dumb question." He waited a moment for a response and when none was forthcoming (the sound of china cups on sink tile), he said, "Guess what the question was." From the kitchen, without much interest: "No idea." "They'd always ask it with the kind of voice people use in the presence of large sculptures in museums. They'd ask me, 'Have you read all these books?'" He waited again, but Billy Kinetta was not playing the game. "Well, young fella, after a while the same dumb question gets asked a million times, you get sorta snappish about it. And it came to annoy me more than a little bit. Till I finally figured out the right answer. "And you know what that answer was? Go ahead, take a guess." Billy appeared in the kitchenette doorway. "I suppose you told them you'd read a lot of them but not all of them." Gaspar waved the guess away with a flapping hand. "Now what good would that have done? They wouldn't know they'd asked a dumb question, but I didn't want to insult them, either. So when they'd ask if I'd read all those books, I'd say, 'Hell, no. Who wants a library full of books you've already read?'" http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/paladin.htm http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/paladin.htm

TigeriusKirk 4y ago

>"who the hell wants a library full of books they've already read?!" Harlan Ellison liked to say that a lot, and I'm sure he wrote down in a book at some point.

nevster 4y ago

I seem to recall an article or video about Umberto Eco saying something like "The value of a library lies in the unread books"