Don't Read This Book

You don't have to. This is the interesting, if asinine, premise of Pierre Bayard's new book, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, published in French as Comment Parler des Livres que l'on n'a pas Lus. Bayard is "a distinguished professor of literature at Paris University," according to the London Times article, and what is most interesting is how he came to be such. He sounds like he ought to be buried in corporate flannel, giving seminars on how to up your sales of quite unnecessary items. His tips on being convincingly poorly read include: "Put aside rational thought" and "Write about yourself." Hm. In a turn of karmic justice, the book is reviewed in the same publication by a reviewer who has not read it.

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