congeries: (Default)
congeries ([personal profile] congeries) wrote2008-09-14 08:33 pm

[PER] Antilibrary



В прекрасной новой книжке Nassim Nicholas Taleb-a про чёрных лебедей, который я сейчас зачитываюсь (и вам советую), есть чудесный кусочек, про то, что он называет antilibrary:

"The writer Umberto Eco belogns to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is an 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 that 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 allow 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 large the rows of unread books.

Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary."

[identity profile] yulia-m.livejournal.com 2008-09-14 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
мдя, до объема библиотеки синьора Эко мне далеко, но вот количество непрочитанного уже, похоже, перевешивает читанное. Не успеваю за своим аппетитом:)

[identity profile] centralasian.livejournal.com 2008-09-14 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
продолжая метафору в русле этой цитаты, надо не есть, а покупать еду. да побольше!

[identity profile] yulia-m.livejournal.com 2008-09-14 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
:)))

[identity profile] moro.livejournal.com 2008-09-15 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
здорово! можно покласть к себе, сославшись?

[identity profile] centralasian.livejournal.com 2008-09-15 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
ежели сославшись, можно и не спрашивать

[identity profile] 12-drakon.livejournal.com 2008-09-15 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, let's accumulate a resource that only one or two people have a chance of NOT using, but that takes the physical space that could perfectly well house a small family. Great idea, really.

What a jerk (though I like his books).

Recently, somebody (Arete from the guild - you know the guy) was trying to get me interested in politics. I asked him what would be an example of a personal effect the stuff could have on my personal life. He said that Bad Politician (TM) wants to censor public libraries. I realized I have not used a public library in years, and would not care much if the politician burned them to the ground while she's at it.

I mean, books don't even have the Search Inside option. Meh.