In this provocative and witty book, Bayard contends that the truly cultivated person is not the one who has read the book but the one who understands the book's place in our culture.
In this mischievous book, literature professor Bayard contends that in this age of infinite publication, the truly cultivated person is not the one who has read a book, but the one who understands the book's place in our culture. Using examples from works by Graham Greene, Umberto Eco, Paul Valery, and many others (and even the movie Groundhog Day), Bayard examines the many kinds of 'non-reading' (forgotten books, unknown books, books discussed by others, books we've skimmed briefly) and the many potentially nightmarish situations in which we are called upon to discuss our reading with others (in class, with our loved ones, with the book's author etc). At heart, this delightfully tongue-in-cheek book challenges everyone who's ever felt guilty about missing some of the Great Books, to consider what reading means, how we absorb books as part of ourselves, and how and why we spend so much time talking about what we have or haven't, read.
