This is Not the End of the Book (2009)

Umberto Eco and film-maker Jean-Claude Carriere, both inveterate bibliophiles and book-collectors, discuss all things bookish – the history of the book, the book as medium and artifact, contents of books (knowledge and literature) and activities and habits connected with books. Author Jean-Philippe de Tonnac acts as an unobtrusive curator, prodding on the protagonists with a few well-judged questions. At its best this book makes one feel as if one is eavesdropping on the conversation of two impossibly erudite friends. At its worst, it risks becoming an exercise in showing off – Eco in particular has a rather irritating habit of using his own works as examples. What redeems this project is the enthusiasm which the protagonists clearly have for books and reading. Polly MacLean’s translation is fluent and idiomatic. As befits the subject, the book is presented as an attractive hardback which is a pleasure to hold and behold.

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The only reason I am not rating it higher is because the two authors-- Carriere and Eco-- do have moments when they just ramble on and on. After a while, you might want to skim some parts. But that aside, the book is set up as a conversation between the two authors moderated by Jean-Philippe de Tonnac, and it is worth reading. The two have great insights on all sorts of topics related to books, and even on some topics that may barely touch on books. They talk about books, the Internet, libraries (personal and institutional), censors, antiquities, privacy, etc. They cover a lot of ground in this book. I would say it is not a book to rush through. Take your time with it. Brew yourself some coffee or tea, and read a bit here and there. Book lovers definitely owe it to themselves to read this book. Librarians will probably enjoy it as well. If nothing else, the two authors do prove convincingly that the book is not going away any time soon, no matter what any naysayer predicts. ( )

This book is so far from my normal reading that it could just as well be some alien scribblings from another galaxy … and I loved every minute of reading it. It is also something as exotic as a old-fashioned paper book. You know, the kind that uses sheets made out of vegetable material with something called ink on each sheet. It is a lot thicker than a tablet and there is no built in light thus you cannot read it in front of the telly or in a otherwise dark room. My father tells me that this is how he read things all the time. Amazing!

Anyway, jokes aside. This was a really an enjoyable book. The title can be a bit misleading though. If you think this will be some educated insight into whether paper books will prevail over digital media then this is not the book for you. This book contains a very entertaining dialogue between two literary, I dare say giants, who are very knowledgeable and well versed in the areas of literature and history. However, their views of the world are undoubtedly confined by their own interests which they, obviously, feels very strongly about. Whenever thy venture into areas of technology then … well let us just say that I do not exactly agree with their statements no matter how eloquently they are put forward.

The enjoyment of this book is the wonderful dialogue between these two people. When reading the book I had to wonder how much effort that went into each reply or more specifically, do these two people actually remember all of these historical facts and can they pull all of these quotes out of their heads, like rabbits out of a hat, during a conversation without having to go and look them up or do some research first?

Thanks to the many quotes, references to historical facts and anecdotes that accompany the “discussions” this book is incredibly enjoyable to read and at the same time a treasure of historical interesting facts and anecdotes. I have actually only read one book of Umberto Eco before,The name of the Rose which I liked a lot, and nothing really from Jean-Claude Carrière.

It is not a book that you read lightly while watching TV or something though. At least that is something that I could not do. This is a book that I had to put some effort into actually reading in order to enjoy it. Thus it also took me a long time to finish it.
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> Un livre qui donne envie d'en lire d'autres
Par Daniel Robert, le 27 avr. 2010 (Sur Amazon.fr) 5/5… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.amazon.fr/review/R1ZG1ZJI9TWHYU/

> N'espérez pas vous débarrasser des livres
Publié par Marine de Tilly, le 28/09/2010
C’est un joyeux capharnaüm, une causerie spontanée qui évolue au fil de l'eau et de la pensée. Ce sont des
mots qui courent, fusent et rebondissent les uns sur les autres, parfois les uns contre les autres. Bref, c'est un
livre étonnant de vivacité qui traite de l'avenir de "l’écrit", dans un style résolument "oral". N'y voyons pour
autant point de contre-sens, car "l'oralité" de deux monstres du gai savoir comme Jean-Claude Carrière et
Umberto Ecco, si elle est parfois primesautière - et c'est délicieux -, reste bien plus soignée que bien des textes
soi-disant "écrits". Du papyrus au fichier électronique, c'est une passionnante traversée de 5.000 ans d'histoire
du livre que les deux compères nous donnent à lire, faisant joyeusement taire, et une bonne fois pour toutes, les
cassandres qui crient - depuis quand déjà ? - à la mort imminente de l'écrit. Le titre est un avertissement, et
c'est comme tel qu'il faut considérer ce texte très réussi en forme d'hommage à la culture et à l'esprit, véritable
antidote au désenchantement littéraire… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.lepoint.fr/livres/n-esperez-pas-vous-debarrasser-des-livres-28-09-20...

Delightful rumination on the enduring significance of books and libraries. This conversation between a renowned novelist (Umberto Eco) and an accomplished filmmaker (Jean-Claude Carriere) will humble lesser mortals who do not carry in their heads the full and interesting histories of human intellectual achievement generally and the milestones of their art forms specifically. One wonders what it must be like to dwell in their world of deep learning and casual openness. ( )