How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, by Pierre Bayard, translated from the French, “Comment Parler des Livres Que l’on n’a pas Lu?,” by Jeffrey Mehlman, Bloomsbury, 185 pages
It being the time of year for suggestions and resolutions, this bit of strategy is from the syllabus for my January class of MBA students, by way of a jewel of an essay from French literature professor Pierre Bayard.
Early in my prior life writing for the Paris-based newspaper, I adopted a personal principle – that I would not review a book I was not prepared to recommend.
I had been sharply negative about a book that fell well below my perhaps too-generous expectations. To fend off the author’s immediate and self-righteous unhappiness – directed loudly to both my editor and to me – outweighed the satisfaction of warning potential readers away from an unworthy piece of work.
But that is not the reason why these comments should not be seen as a “review.” Rather, the suggestion that you need not read this book – indeed, ought not – is driven by the exposition of M. Bayard himself.
Which is that, in a literate society, we are all obliged – academics and critics perhaps more than others – to speak knowledgeably about books we have not read. The context may be as intimate and embarrassing as a chance encounter with the author, or as professionally risky and demanding as a themed symposium. Involved in any case are high degrees of anxiety and the likelihood of career-threatening exposure and humiliation.
Drawing upon sources from Montaigne, Proust and Oscar Wilde, to Bill Murray’s character in the movie “Ground Hog Day,” Bayard proceeds – with his glib Gallic tongue lodged firmly in his cheek – to deconstruct the very concept of “reading”: an activity seen to embrace no more than a glance at a title and table of contents, skimming, sampling pages at random, absorption of commentary, and familiarity with the author’s other works as well as those of others in the genre.
Conversely, to allay the concerns of the insecure and the indolent, Bayard extends the ambiguous concept of “non-reading” not only to books both unknown and deliberately ignored, but those once read but long ago forgotten.
Once established that to “read” is to know a book by any of the identified means, and not necessarily by turning the pages, Bayard provides a structure and gives permission to hold forth on a book not ever actually held in hand – using techniques such as talking only about the author, discoursing on the subject in general, avoiding or changing the topic, or speaking instead of entirely other works.
So here is the pedagogic follow-up: just as Bayard clarifies that the choice to read a book necessarily implies a choice not to read an infinity of others, so too the limits of time and energy put constraints on the ability to absorb business advice and guidance – there’s just too much out there.
Academic theory is here supported by the empirical observation of workplace rules of thumb: 20% of customers generate 80% of profits; one-quarter of employees cause three-fourths of the human resource problems, etc.
From which emerges this guidance for priority setting: spend time where the pay-off lies, and stop sweating the small stuff.
And from that comes specific implementation: Most books of strategy, advice and social theorizing consist of a succinct hypothesis, an explanatory outline of modest length, and the blown-out and over-long expansion to book length that seeks to justify a price of $29.95. But since their real value – if any -- lies in the preface and the first chapter, the available wisdom can be extracted while standing in the bookshop aisle or resting in its café, whence the book can be re-shelved with a savings of both time and purchase price.
It would violate my reviewer’s principles to give here my choice of recent books that deserve this treatment – although in response to readers’ queries I will be happy to do so privately. But as a hint, I would point to anything in the Business section written by a retired CEO or with a single word for a title.
Bayard himself would not only endorse the suggestion that readership of his book is expandable to include all those who never crack its covers. He would also credit my confession to launching these observations although I had left the last fifty pages of his book untouched.
This will thank you for your interest and comments during a difficult and challenging year. I wish to all a safe and joyous holiday season, and a peaceful and healthy New Year.
