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Manny's Reviews > The Library of Babel
The Library of Babel
by
by
Manny's review
bookshelves: linguistics-and-philosophy, the-goodreads-experience, science-fiction, mentions-twilight, lists-glorious-lists
Jun 28, 2011
bookshelves: linguistics-and-philosophy, the-goodreads-experience, science-fiction, mentions-twilight, lists-glorious-lists
In Borges's short story, the world consists of a gigantic library which contains every possible book that can ever be written. So, somewhere, there must logically be the book, the one that reveals the Library's secret! Unfortunately, there is no filing system, and no one has any idea of how to find the elusive book. In fact, it's challenging even to locate one which contains a meaningful sentence: most of them are gibberish from beginning to end.
Well, our own world isn't quite as bad - but it's still harder than it should be to locate the books you really want to read, when they're mixed up with the ones you just think you might want to read. I am often appalled at the amount of time I waste on this site, but comfort myself with the thought that it has helped me find some amazing books I normally wouldn't even have considered.
But exactly how helpful has it been? The other day, it occurred to me to try and answer this question quantitatively. I calculate that, since I started hanging out here in late 2008, I have read 42 books just because someone here has recommended them. (I didn't count books recommended by people on Goodreads whom I also know in real life, otherwise the figure would be considerably higher). After some more thought, I've picked out a Top Ten, which I present here for your amusement:
10. I've never seen anyone outside Goodreads mention Everything Explained Through Flowcharts , recommended to me by David G, but it's the funniest thing I've seen in ages. I challenge you to read it without giggling helplessly at least a couple of times. Why it isn't more famous is more than I understand.
9. À rebours , a weird 19th century French novel recommended to me by Sabrina, is another book that deserves to be better known. Nothing happens, but it's somehow utterly compelling. I think it's also been very influential.
8. I love books written under strong formalist constraints, but I'd never heard of Eunoia , recommended by Gary. Five chapters, each using only one vowel, and, even though it sounds impossible, it works remarkably well as poetry. Really!
7. Eric W recommended The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History . If you're after inspiration and good old-fashioned heroism, look no further.
6. Choupette was so indignant about Plateforme that I had to check it out for myself. I liked it enough that I also read Les particules élémentaires . I won't promise that you'll enjoy them, but they're certainly going to make you think.
5. Everyone recommended The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains . Alas, all too true. The mere fact that I'm sitting here writing this proves his point.
4. Would you believe it, I hadn't even heard of Infinite Jest before I joined GR. Within a couple of months, I'd given in and bought a copy. Admittedly, I also bought a copy of Twilight at the same time...
3. Pavel told me I had to read Voices from Chernobyl , and he was right. Whatever your opinions on nuclear power, it's irresponsible not to. You can't take more than a chapter or so at a time; after that, you just sit there stunned, doing your best not to cry. Another book that people have unaccountably overlooked.
2. Was I really going to read a thousand page physics text full of scary math? I did a math degree in the late 70s, but this looked way over my level. However, Nick called me chicken enough times that I decided to tackle The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe . I've finally got to the end, and wow, was it a fascinating read! If you like math and physics, take Nick's advice: forget the pop science books and go for the big one. It's worth the effort.
1. I don't really know Norwegian, and how likely was it that I'd buy a three volume magical-realist Norwegian novel by an author I'd never heard of? But, moved by Oriana's glowing review, I started thinking that I speak Swedish, Norwegian isn't that different (it's a kind of Spanish/Portuguese deal), so why not give it a shot? By the time I was 20 pages into Forføreren , I was hooked, and then I immediately continued with Erobreren and Oppdageren . The trilogy is the most brilliant thing I have read this century, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Thank you Oriana!
So, there you are, and I hope I've made at least one sale :) In the interests of completeness, here's the rest of the list, in alphabetical order:
99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style
The Authoritarians
The Bent Sword
Breaking Dawn
Crowds and Power
The Dreamfighter: And Other Creation Tales
Eclipse
L'élégance du hérisson
Exercices de Style
Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will
Go the Fuck to Sleep
Galatea 2.2
Gray Matters
Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
How To Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own
Musical Chairs
Mysterier
New Moon
No Hope for Gomez!
Not a Chance: Fictions
The Riddler's Gift (Lifesong, #1)
The Sparrow
Sult
The Triple A's Check It Out
Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights
Whom God Would Destroy
Zazie dans le métro
Happy Goodreading!
Well, our own world isn't quite as bad - but it's still harder than it should be to locate the books you really want to read, when they're mixed up with the ones you just think you might want to read. I am often appalled at the amount of time I waste on this site, but comfort myself with the thought that it has helped me find some amazing books I normally wouldn't even have considered.
But exactly how helpful has it been? The other day, it occurred to me to try and answer this question quantitatively. I calculate that, since I started hanging out here in late 2008, I have read 42 books just because someone here has recommended them. (I didn't count books recommended by people on Goodreads whom I also know in real life, otherwise the figure would be considerably higher). After some more thought, I've picked out a Top Ten, which I present here for your amusement:
10. I've never seen anyone outside Goodreads mention Everything Explained Through Flowcharts , recommended to me by David G, but it's the funniest thing I've seen in ages. I challenge you to read it without giggling helplessly at least a couple of times. Why it isn't more famous is more than I understand.
9. À rebours , a weird 19th century French novel recommended to me by Sabrina, is another book that deserves to be better known. Nothing happens, but it's somehow utterly compelling. I think it's also been very influential.
8. I love books written under strong formalist constraints, but I'd never heard of Eunoia , recommended by Gary. Five chapters, each using only one vowel, and, even though it sounds impossible, it works remarkably well as poetry. Really!
7. Eric W recommended The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History . If you're after inspiration and good old-fashioned heroism, look no further.
6. Choupette was so indignant about Plateforme that I had to check it out for myself. I liked it enough that I also read Les particules élémentaires . I won't promise that you'll enjoy them, but they're certainly going to make you think.
5. Everyone recommended The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains . Alas, all too true. The mere fact that I'm sitting here writing this proves his point.
4. Would you believe it, I hadn't even heard of Infinite Jest before I joined GR. Within a couple of months, I'd given in and bought a copy. Admittedly, I also bought a copy of Twilight at the same time...
3. Pavel told me I had to read Voices from Chernobyl , and he was right. Whatever your opinions on nuclear power, it's irresponsible not to. You can't take more than a chapter or so at a time; after that, you just sit there stunned, doing your best not to cry. Another book that people have unaccountably overlooked.
2. Was I really going to read a thousand page physics text full of scary math? I did a math degree in the late 70s, but this looked way over my level. However, Nick called me chicken enough times that I decided to tackle The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe . I've finally got to the end, and wow, was it a fascinating read! If you like math and physics, take Nick's advice: forget the pop science books and go for the big one. It's worth the effort.
1. I don't really know Norwegian, and how likely was it that I'd buy a three volume magical-realist Norwegian novel by an author I'd never heard of? But, moved by Oriana's glowing review, I started thinking that I speak Swedish, Norwegian isn't that different (it's a kind of Spanish/Portuguese deal), so why not give it a shot? By the time I was 20 pages into Forføreren , I was hooked, and then I immediately continued with Erobreren and Oppdageren . The trilogy is the most brilliant thing I have read this century, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Thank you Oriana!
So, there you are, and I hope I've made at least one sale :) In the interests of completeness, here's the rest of the list, in alphabetical order:
99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style
The Authoritarians
The Bent Sword
Breaking Dawn
Crowds and Power
The Dreamfighter: And Other Creation Tales
Eclipse
L'élégance du hérisson
Exercices de Style
Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will
Go the Fuck to Sleep
Galatea 2.2
Gray Matters
Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
How To Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own
Musical Chairs
Mysterier
New Moon
No Hope for Gomez!
Not a Chance: Fictions
The Riddler's Gift (Lifesong, #1)
The Sparrow
Sult
The Triple A's Check It Out
Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights
Whom God Would Destroy
Zazie dans le métro
Happy Goodreading!
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
January 1, 1974
–
Finished Reading
June 28, 2011
– Shelved
June 28, 2011
– Shelved as:
linguistics-and-philosophy
June 28, 2011
– Shelved as:
the-goodreads-experience
June 28, 2011
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
June 28, 2011
– Shelved as:
mentions-twilight
October 14, 2012
– Shelved as:
lists-glorious-lists
Comments Showing 1-46 of 46 (46 new)
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Thank you Carlo! I have fixed the link.
Oh good point. I'll add him. Not quite sure how he got left out!
Okay, I've added Galatea 2.2 and The Sparrow, which I also managed to miss. There could well be other omissions.
Of course, an index to Borge's library would also be somewhere in the library. But that raises a few issues: First, is the matter of finding it. Second, I think it's probably easy to demonstrate that any such index would have to be considerably longer than a single volume, so it might not be enough to find the one book. (On this, however, you could get lucky and find the book which shows the location of all the books that are contained in the index.) Also, you would have to verify that the index you found was a good index, and not just a false variation.I was thinking about this story the other day in connection with notgettingenough's review of the Big Blue book. If it existed (and in theory at least it could) wouldn't Borges' library do for writing what Big Blue does for chess? It's a kind of brute force approach to writing. Theoretically, a computer could now filter the results so that almost all of the gibberish disappears, and the library contains only books with proper spelling and grammatical constructions. Given the current insistence that chess no longer requires intelligence, couldn't one make the same argument, at least in theory, for writing?
If you read the story, I think you'll find that Borges has done a good job of following up the obvious philosophical problems. In particular, even though the True Book exists, there are innumerably many more False Books which just appear to be the True Book.People are so unfair to Deep Blue. "Brute force"! That's such a speciesist remark. Some extremely clever ideas went into it; the first one I think of is how it played the opening by intelligently combining databases of games, knowledge of the playing strengths of the people involved in those games, and its own calculations.
Every day I longingly look over at Jan Kjærstad's trilogy sitting on my bookshelf and wonder why I continue to select other books I feel I might like, when I have a sinking suspicion that these are what I really want to read right now. Your review has inspired me to get over my compulsive mental to-read list, clear the docket, and dive in to Kjærstad's beckoning world.
Tim, if I have really persuaded you to start on the Kjærstad trilogy, then I would happily have spent ten times as long on my review!
The only thing I know about "À rebours" is that it's a Babyshambles song. You're welcome.
Oh wow. I must look it up. Who knew they were so erudite and cultured?
Apparently my partner did. He just informed me that Pete Doherty was really into French literature, "at least in a making-pretentious-references sense".
He sounds like my kind of guy! Now I really must check it out...
I'm afraid I have some work to do this afternoon, but maybe next week...
Manny wrote: "I'm afraid I have some work to do this afternoon, but maybe next week..."Gasp. Blasphemy!
I thought I would like to do this myself, i.e. list the books I would never have found were it not for GR, but then I thought that the problem is that I find books just by noticing titles people are reading/reviewing - they aren't specifically recommending them to me. So would that count? The books people do recommend to me specifically seem to be quite inappropriate. Everyone knows I like nothing but gruesome true crime books or short stories about meth-heads but only one person recommended anything like that. Sad face icon.
Oh, I was certainly interpreting "recommend" in the broad sense. As you say, people give you recommendations for the most bizarre books, which in most cases are things you'd never dream of reading under any circumstances.To take one specific example: may I politely and regretfully say that I don't read Arabic? So recommending Arabic books to me is unlikely to have any useful effect.
in recent months I have been recommendedThe Morrow Secrets (Tallitha Mouldson, #1)
Monster Island (Zombies, #1)
The Medusa Deception (The Medusa Legacy #1)
and, after all I've said about the Wind Up Bird,
Kafka on the Shore !
It has become a cliché that people who make homophobic remarks are themselves closet gays. Similarly, Paul, I'm afraid there's no point in pretending. We all know how you really feel about Murukami. It's painfully obvious.
I just heard about this story on 99% Invisible podcast. Sounds like a great story to ponder. I wonder if The Librarian series is loosely based on this.
I had vaguely heard about The Librarian but had no idea there was a connection to Borges. Thank you, I will look at that!
Here's another recommendation for you: Die Universalbibliothek. Published 38 years before Borges, it contains quite a few ideas that later went into The Library of Babel. It's rather short and your German is by now far better than needed :) Link to an online version in my review.
I read lots of books by GR members. This is afterall a social media site.However, some of the GR reviewers are as good as the people I used to read in the old paper newspapers.
So if break down a 1000 page volume in 2 500page ones, why not in 10 100page ones etc. If you continue this thinking than you realized that everything is already in the alphabet itself, you just need to combine the appropriate number of letters.
Peter wrote: "So if break down a 1000 page volume in 2 500page ones, why not in 10 100page ones etc. If you continue this thinking than you realized that everything is already in the alphabet itself, you just ne..."That's right! You'll only need as many books in the library as there are characters in your alphabet and read them in the correct order.
(Perhaps you want to keep several copies of the "e"-book as they will wear out pretty fast).
Excellent review. I loved that your list of books that GR's friends recommended to you that you never would have known about.
Thank you Deborah! I should say that this list is very old, I'm sure that by now it would be three times as long :)
1974? So, Manny, you read this in second grade? I suspect you were a bit of a prodigy, but I don't know about this one.
No no, in 1974 I was well into my teens! The most ambitious thing I read in second grade was Galactic Patrol.
For me, it was comic books, which I wish I saved instead of my worthless baseball cards. Along with the usual DC and Marvel characters, I was fascinated by robots that were attacking and eliminating "puny humans" terminator-style.
The robots won't need to attack and eliminate us. They'll just help a few Silicon Valley startups make further improvements to smartphone, social network and videogame technology, and humans will soon decide they have better things to do than reproduce. But maybe the comics were dramatizing this situation to get their young audience's attention.
Hmmm.....what's the worse fate, being reduced to gelatinous blobs or put out of our misery quickly by terminator 'bots?
I asked Alexa. She says she's not sure.
I loved the point of comparing the wasted time on this site with the consideration benefit ^&
As the little prince says, it's the time you've wasted on things that makes them unique to you.
I expect the number - and ratio - of books you've read because GR friends alerted you to them is even higher, ten years on. I know it is for me. (But I admit I'm surprised to see Penrose's Road to Reality on your list: my kid read it before uni - including on holiday!)
Michael wrote: "For me, it was comic books..."And yet they didn't hamper you moving on to more varied and more intellectual reading. Of course it didn't. I hate the fear/snobbery that makes some parents try to police their children's reading by banning comics, for example.
Cecily wrote: "I expect the number - and ratio - of books you've read because GR friends alerted you to them is even higher, ten years on. I know it is for me. (But I admit I'm surprised to see Penrose's Road to ..."Hey, you've got a smart kid!
Manny wrote: "Hey, you've got a smart kid!"I do! With a passion for theoretical physics and linguistics. And cats and curing meat!
It is not only books people recommend to you. (I read a few because of you like QualityLand. And just bought the Hadrian book by Yourcenar.)But I at least tend to read more books now that I always thought I should read like Don Quixote, or Spinoza, just to impress my "friends" here.
So while GR is indeed a time killer I think it is good for me to hang around. And by the way (and I might have mentioned it before) you need to read "Mit fremden Federn" by Robert Neumann.
Good one, Manny! I recall several books I read and reviewed based on your recommendations. BTW - I just did post a review of this tale where I included a quote from Quine's short essay on the Borges library you might enjoy.
Nice and insightful review, Manny! I especially like your counter-argument about the possible leap in thought we might experience if we only learn to master our own creation, the internet, that we have brought into the world but that as of yet gallops all over the place untamed. I think we might already have had a leap in thought brought about by the internet, visible in the many things we can see in our and our children's behaviour, thinking and abilities that are very different from what we used to see in earlier times, but in order not to classify it as something positive like a leap or something negative, like Carr does, I think the value-neutral description would be to say a "change' rather than a "leap" has happened to our thinking up to this point. Yet, that still leaves us the possibility to make a leap out of that change. Thank you for that perspective.
Another thought:
There are no people who have mastered the internet, I think, but there are, as you and Nick Carr both say, people who have mastered control of how we use it. Unfortunately, as you detail above, we largely use it in ways that are the opposite of beneficial to us as individiual people. (Not to speak of the years behind us that have proven them to be detrimental to our democracies as well.) What we need, therefore, is a revolution - we need to free ourselves from the ways in which we have been conditioned to use the internet, and we need to abolish the mechanisms that have been built into the internet over time that only serve to make us click, consume and buy. The problem is whether this will a) be possible or if these mechanisms have already become so strong that we cannot manage to free ourselves from them anymore and b) whether this revolutionary reconstruction of the internet brought about by Us The People wouldn't need to be so profound that it would destroy the internet we know.
Sometimes I think we should all collectively abandon this ad-ridden, unfree, monetized and largely soulless place that the internet has become altogether and build it entirely anew, completely independent from the old internet and with measures put into place so a capitalist, anti-democratic, anti-humanist, even, takeover like we have seen with this internet here can never happen to the new internet. A second go at the whole idea, kinda. An internet by and for the people, that serves the purposes that Tim Berners-Lee originally intended (at least that's what I'm supposing Tim Berners-Lee to have originally intended): unlimited knowledge, unlimited communication about that knowledge, freedom and fun. But then at other times I feel motivation and bravery to reclaim the one we have. And then at even other times I wish we could chuck the entire concept in the trash and be rid of it forever. Well, Dürrenmatt had it right though, once an idea has been brought into the world it will remain there, and it is very unlikely we'll forget about it, so we need to work with the world we have.
I hope I'll find the time to read this one. Or, since it is already quite old for its fast-evolving topic, would you say that by now the book is too outdated? Thanks again for your review!
Hi Nina, I would agree with most of what you've written here.Some parts of the internet are much better than others - this site, for all its faults, is one of my favourites. I think it gives a valuable example of how people can come together and create a powerful community that does many things the founders of the site hadn't even considered when they started it. There is the basic idea of organising the structure around discussing books, and then you can do pretty much what you want. But there's no guarantee of long-term security. Amazon can do what it likes with the site, and if they decided to close it down the membership wouldn't be able to do anything to oppose them.
I wonder if there is any possibility of giving the members of internet communities some legal rights. Obviously you can't force a company to carry on running a site that's losing money. But maybe there could be a mechanism which allows the members to buy them out if they can raise the necessary funds among themselves. I don't know how this would work in practice (there are obviously many technical problems), but I don't feel it's out of the question either.
"it's challenging even to locate one which contains a meaningful sentence: most of them are gibberish from beginning to end" is a common misperception, all the books are in fact meaningfull, when properly decoded: "For while the Library contains all verbal structures, all the variations allowed by the twenty-five orthographic symbols, it includes not a single absolute piece of nonsense." and "There is no combinationof characters one can make-dhcmrlchtdj, for example-that the divine Library has not foreseen and that in one or more of its secret tongues does not hide a terrible significance." etc.
Great review by the way. I'm sure you will make a lot of sales by this...:)