Everything I read about this book before I read it promised a witty, beautifully styled text that advised the reader on how to, well, talk about books he hasn’t read, but also how to deal with social situations in which the reader finds himself having to lead intellectual discussions about a book he hasn’t read. The word I latched on to was “witty,” thinking this was going to be a serious joke book – extremely hilarious writing about a topic that needs real consideration. Like when humorists write about politics.

Instead, I found this to be an STB. No, that doesn’t mean “sexual transmitted book.” You see, books are mentioned throughout this book, as would make sense; the author gives comments on each book – whether he has not heard of the book (UB – unheard of book), books he has skimmed (SB), books he has heard about (HB), and books he has read but forgotten (FB). He then rates them. Well, I am going to call this an STB (slept-through book) with a rating of ++, which is the highest possible rating. I don’t want to imply that the book was boring; it wasn’t the book’s fault that I read it late into the night after having gotten very little sleep the night before. (Well, I suppose if you really think about it, it is the book’s fault for being so interesting that I didn’t want to put it down; however, I sort of feel that since the book gives advice on how to talk about books you haven’t read, I can rightly talk about this book which I only partially read.)