"I'm very skeptical of books. I'm not saying that no book is worth reading, but I actually believe something very close to... I think once you've written a book, are you bored? it should be, and six. Paragraph blog post." -Sam Bankman Fried (book skeptic).
Of course, reading a book can slow you down. There is something mysterious about even non-fiction books. However, I think the real goal here is imagination. What the hell are you wasting your time reading? Will reading stories get you a job one day? Can you help them develop a cure for a terrible disease? To achieve world peace?
Well, the answer is no.
Not long ago, universities advertised pictures of attractive, well-educated students lounging on sunny benches and reading books. For some fashion updates and books, search the same images with photoshopped laptops on Google now. Go to the library and everyone is (sorry) hunched over their laptops. Nobody reads books. A few years ago, I had a student who was not interested in reading real books. I bought him: I told him that if he brought a book from the Perkins Library to class the next day, I would give him a 100 on the daily test. He didn't and he wouldn't, not then, not next week, not ever.
Some time ago there was a young man in my life. When he saw my bookshelves for the first time, his eyes fell on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The book is big. Between you and me: There is a whole world in this book and I spent many happy hours in it. But my young guest looked at it so longingly that I gave it to him to keep.
"You will love it!" I told him
"Oh, I'll cut it out and make a secret box for it," he replied. It took me back to the days when recovery hardware sold book-shaped boxes with beige lids for home decor. So collect it beautifully in your home. There are no pages. They cost more than real books! Now, when I look at the shelves full of books, I always wonder if there is something in them besides words: maybe jewelry, or government bonds, or small firearms, or cash, or mysterious signs, even as the Russian con artist Ostap Bender did? . Say something like this: "The key to the apartment where all the money is" (here the word is in Russian).
I once served as a translator for a group of Russian furniture makers attending the High Point Furniture Show (check it out guys, it's in your area). Hall after hall after hall. You can simply ask, "Where are the bookshelves?" Answer? Not in Highpoint.
Disclaimer: I do not review physical books. I understand that people read ebooks, and so do I. I had my students read electronic texts on Canvas! Does not matter; I'm pretty sure Sam Bankman Fried wasn't talking about physical books. He talked about reading anything that wasn't a cryptocurrency manual or, say, a six-point blog post about how to make money out of thin air and lies.
Now read Dostoyevsky's Notes from the House of the Dead, a fictional memoir about the author's 4 years in what he calls a "forced society" (a forced labor prison in Siberia). In Russian, the word "jewel" is associated with Russian apartments, so some aspects of his experience may be similar to your experience in the dorms at Duke.
Or, as my Russian literary brethren say, like the human condition itself: imprisoned against our will in a fallen, sinful world.
One day I had to send a set of Dostoyevsky magnets to a colleague in Chicago. (Yes, that's right, Dostoevsky magnets. I made them.) I went to UPS on Ninth Street and the guy behind the counter said, "Wow, that's heavy for such a small box." And of course I said "Dostoevsky's magnet". And he said: "Really? That's great! I've only read Dostoevsky's books and talked about them with my friends." I asked him excitedly when it was. He replied: "When I was in prison. "There was no. We have a lot of work to do."
Well, you're almost done.
The best way to get into other people's minds is to read a good piece of fiction. Of course, since we're sticking to pure facts here, I can't think of a criminal who stole billions of dollars (ie cryptocurrency) from unsuspecting investors and used it to buy luxury items, including politicians. He claimed it was all for the sake of an imaginary future charity project. In some ways I think Bitcoin is a form of cheap fiction, but it's more interesting than a random story written by a very talented writer.
I hope someone writes this story
But it seems clear that at least one of the uneducated cheaters will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. I wonder if, by the way, he would be desperate enough to open a book, like many others in slavery. They are alone.
Maybe you don't make much money reading novels, Sam. But it will set you free.
Professor Carol Apollonio has taught Russian literature at Duke University for 40 years, and this is her last semester. His column, Last Rants from the Podium, usually appears every Wednesday.
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