Umberto Eco is one of my favourite writers and I can never have enough of the books of Umberto Eco, therefore, when I saw the book ‘This is Not the End of the Book: A conversation curated by Jean-Philippe de Tonnac by Umberto Eco, Jean-Claude Carrière on a bookshop shelf, I quickly grabbed the book started reading it on the way back home, on the train.
And yes, I once again did not make a wrong decision by purchasing a book with Umberto Eco’s name on it. This time, the book covers the conversation between two intellectuals and is put together on all different kinds of subject topics.
The book starts by putting the argument forward of whether the ‘book’ will survive the digital revolution of the 21st Century. And with that line of discussion, the context of the book captures the reader and keeps their focus until the last chapter. Eco and Claude Carrière do discuss the past, present and the future of the book and the reader becomes engaged in the discussion between two great minds.
The conversations of these thinkers, who are also book collectors, have a deep understanding of the history which reflects in their discussion and makes the reading joyful and informative.
The reader will be delighted to find him/herself in the bookishly conversation and will try to give their own meaning on the philosophical and political arguments, and will find incredibly thought-provoking subjects such as writing, culture, and ideas.
It is very exciting to read, as a book lover that both intellectuals owning roughly 50,000 and 30,000 to 40,000 volumes respectively and praising the love and importance of rare and antiquarian books. By showing their love affair with rare books both thinkers raise the question on the topic of book burning and censorship.
I do not want to give too much away at this stage, but anyone who wants to know more about books, and the importance of books for the society we live in, should definitely read ‘This is not the end of the Book’. And especially those people, who believe computers and e-reader devices such as Kindles will take over books, should not avoid this cleverly curated work.
The message broadcasts throughout the book that the book will survive as we can see clear as Umberto Eco says, ‘Alterations to the book – as – object have modified neither its function nor its grammar for more than 500 years. The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. You cannot make a spoon that is better than a spoon”.
As I have said before, I can never have enough of Umberto Eco’s writings, but lucky as I am, a good friend of mine gave a book by him as a present which is now lined up as a must first reading list title amongst a very long list.
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Semra Eren-Nijhar 