Cartea lui Eco are, în original, un supratitlu pe care traduc?torii (români, francezi, englezi) nu l-au p?strat. Nu-mi dau seama de ce. Supratitlul e un verset din cîntul al VII-lea din Infernul lui Dante Alighieri. Sun? în chipul urm?tor: „Pape Satàn Aleppe”. În pofida miilor de încerc?ri de a o descifra, expresia a r?mas misterioas? pîn? ast?zi. Nici în italian? nu are sens.

În schimb, este foarte elocvent? pentru vremurile noastre haotice, cînd toat? lumea vrea s? spun? ceva (pe bloguri, pe Twitter, pe Facebook, pe forumul gazetelor) ?i nimeni nu în?elege absolut nimic. Corul a devenit cacofonie. Pentru acest motiv, a? fi p?strat supratitlul întocmai cum e. Pare defini?ia haosului vocal.

Umberto Eco a fost un publicist perseverent, sagace, curios ?i foarte atent la evenimentele din jur (inclusiv la tr?sn?ile românilor din diaspora). Sigur, cîteva articole sînt comentarii de carte, recenzii, dar cele mai multe discut? evolu?iile „societ??ii lichide” (id est ale societ??ii lipsite de repere) în care tr?im.

Ceea ce l-a intrigat pe autor (ceea ce m? intrig? ?i pe mine) este despuierea public?, striptease-ul unanim, renun?area la intimitate ?i privacy a/le omului contemporan. Am ajuns - f?r? s? ne oblige nimeni - s? tr?im în public. To?i ceilal?i ?tiu ce adrese de mail avem, ce mînc?ruri ne plac (dac? prefer?m brînza de oaie sau de capr?), ce c?r?i citim, pe cine simpatiz?m ?i pe cine urîm, cînd avem de gînd s? mergem la teatru, cînd divor??m, pe unde hoin?rim în vacan?e etc. Am transformat lumea în statul lui Big Brother ?i asta f?r? s? fim constrîn?i de autorit??i. Am renun?at de bun? voie ?i nesili?i de nimeni la mult invocata (în pandemie) libertate. Nu mai este nevoie de nici o supraveghere, toat? lumea ?tie cu precizie ce face toat? lumea. Nu exist? excep?ii. Nimeni nu mai urmeaz? vechiul precept: „Tr?ie?te bine numai cel care ?tie s? se ascund? bine: Bene vixit, bene qui latuit” (Ovidiu, Tristia, III: 4, 25).

Pe vremuri se ridicau reputa?ii. Ast?zi, observ? Umberto Eco, individul e avid de notorietate. Vrea s? fie v?zut ?i recunoscut, vrea s? produc? zarv?, vrea s? trezeasc? uimiri, vrea interjec?ii. Ajungi notoriu (adic? un „om împlinit”), atunci cînd poporul te arat? cu degetul pe strad? ?i vrea s? fac? o poz? cu tine. Iar pentru a deveni cunoscu?i, sîntem în stare de orice. Scopul scuz? mijloacele.

Umberto Eco e foarte sever cu telefonul mobil (uneori, e o pacoste, recunosc), dar ?i cu dezordinea alfabetic? a internetului. A memora informa?ii nu e nici o scofal?, cel mai bun lucru este s? înv???m arta discrimin?rii (între bine ?i r?u, între util ?i toxic, între valoros ?i mediocru etc.). Din p?cate, nimeni nu mai st?pîne?te aceast? art?...163 s Lyubov380 204

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???????? ?? <336 s Evripidis Gousiaris229 118

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?? ??? ?????? ???? "????" ?????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ??????????? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ?????? ??????????.

??????? ??? ???????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??????? ????????? ???? ???? ????? "????".

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??? ??? "????" ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?? "?????? ?????????". 20 s Diana Stoyanova607 135

??????? ? ???????? ? ?????? ???????? ? ?????? ????????. ????????????? ?? ??? ?? ????????????? ? ?????????, ? ??? ?????????? ? ????????.
??????? ? ????????? ??????.18 s Anton321 90

3.5 ?? I have quite a mixed feelings after finishing this book - hence the lukewarm rating.

I was somewhat disappointed to discover that this is not a book of essays (as I expected) but a collection of Eco's newspaper column articles. The nature of the original media dictates the format of most entries: extra short (500 - 1500 words each), 'newspaper language', written in response to a certain event (some of which felt either dated or way too regional)... So overall it reads a bit bitty, piecemeal. Not my sweet spot.

The articles are grouped by thematic blocks or chapters. The ones I enjoyed the most were 'Turning Back the Clock' and 'On Books' (surprise-surprise). They alone would get full 5-stars from me. Others fared much worse...

On the other hand, it was a wonderful glimpse into the working of the mind of a true titan of erudition and intelligence. I have missed the worldly wisdom of Umberto Eco and it was good to spend some more time in his company.
essays-and-musings15 s Austra690 97

T? droši vien ir glaimošana sev pašai, kad lasu t?da cilv?ka k? Umberto Eko esejas un piekr?toši m?ju ar galvu, priec?joties - re, k? mums viedok?i saskan! Droši vien, ja vi?š b?tu rakst?jis k?dam specializ?tam izdevumam, nevis dienas av?zes slejai, apstiprin?tos, ka es un vi?š esam no div?m t?lt?l?m galaktik?m. Bet, hei, vi?š š?s maz?s esejas ir uzrakst?jis ?oti gudras un vienlaikus bez intelektu?las augstpr?t?bas. Es var?tu par t?m run?t daudz, bet lab?k ir izlas?t pašiem un ?auties p?rdom?m par dz?vi un liet?m. Tik ?oti grib?tos, lai šo gr?matu izdod ar? latviešu valod?. Jo es ar to labpr?t daudziem iemestu.

“The secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered that I was not God.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.italian non-fiction14 s Siti334 124

Volume ricco di spunti di riflessione, uscito postumo nel 2016, copre un arco temporale di quindici anni attraverso l'antologia delle famose bustine di Minerva che, pur risalendo la prima al 1985, interessano gli anni a partire dal 2000 fino alla morte dell'autore. Il taglio è sempre il medesimo, un contributo breve dalla sintesi perspicace che partendo da un assunto, ma spesso e volentieri da un dubbio,si chiude con una nota comica, il picco massimo, a mio parere, della genialità espressiva dell'autore. Un microtesto che condensa ogni volta spunti di riflessione i quali pur descrivendo le storture della società liquida, e in questo inquietandoci, riesce poi con abile virata a offrire chiavi di lettura e prospettive inaudite con il chiaro scopo di sdrammatizzare e soprattutto di tentare una lettura non disfattista ma critica e funzionale alla soluzione dei problemi. Per comodità di fruizione gli interventi antologizzati sono riuniti in nuclei tematici senza seguire il criterio cronologico e ciò da modo di avere uno sguardo di insieme capace di far emergere l'interesse trasversale di Eco ai diversi problemi della nostra contemporaneità spesso anticipando, il nostro, considerazioni che sorgono spontanee in molti quando il fenomeno è acclamato e non latente e quindi ancora di difficoltosa lettura. Involuzione tecnologica, web, libri, le grandi tensioni dell'odio e dell'amore, l'apparire, il falso problema della privacy, il decadimento dei principali canali formativi: scuola e università, la perdita della dimensione storica se riferita al passato, ovvero la perdita della memoria, stupidità e follia. Una lettura arricchente e comoda, nella sua forma di selezione, anche per chi all'epoca non si è perso nemmeno una bustina; è sempre bello d'altronde ritrovare un appunto scritto su un foglio per la sua capacità intrinseca che possiede di rievocare un'epoca, un sentimento, un tempo che non c'è più ma che ha concorso a formare la nostra visione attuale del presente.
letto12 s ?????? ??????2,311 1,561

??????? ?? ???? ????????? ?? ????????: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...

??? ?????? ?? ????, ?? ????????? ?????? ?? ?? ?????, ?? ?? ?? ?? ???????, ???????? ??????????? ????? ???? ??????????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? – ? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????????, ??????????, ?? ? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ??????, ????? ??????? ?????? ? ?????? ?? ??? ?????????, ????????? ? ?????????, ?? “…??????? ?? ????????? ??? ? ????????…”, ??????? ????????? ????? ?????????? ? ???????? ?????????? ?????, ?? ? ????? ?? ?????? ? ????: “…?? ? ???????? ?????????? ?? ???? ????????? ? ??????, ?????? ?????? ? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ???????????.”

Colibri Books
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...14 s Viola398 63

Tas bija patiess liter?rs baud?jums. Eko prot interesanti st?st?t gan par nopietn?m liet?m- politika, reli?ija, m?ksla utt.,paral?li iepinot st?st? pornoaktrišu zobu st?vokli,komiksus un Dž. Bušu. Izcili....8 s Krist?ne621 1 follower

Umberto Eko k? esejists ir lab?ks rakstnieks k? rom?nists. Gr?t?k g?ja ar filozofijas noda?u, jo to nekad neesmu m?c?jusies, man tumša bilde, bet visu p?r?jo izbaud?ju - domu skaidr?bu, prec?zo valodu, tr?p?gos nov?rojumus.8 s Alexander157 25

Hellsichtige, sehr lesenswerte Kolumnen. 8 s Leonor Beadsman's great-granddaughter Leonor Beadsman167 22

Es difícil dar una "puntuación" cerrada a un libro tan heterogéneo como lo es una recopilación de ensayos (aunque esta esté subdividida en temas). A mi parecer es un libro que fluctúa mucho entre las 3 y las 5 estrellas, realmente depende de que ensayo cojas. Hay momentos de pura genialidad, donde Eco entiende los lugares comunes del diálogo y se los salta complemente para dejar una reflexión que no se siente gastada; pero, inevitablemente, nos encontramos con esos ensayos de "viejo señor", en los que todo tiempo anterior era mejor.

En tal espectro un trío de ensayos que me gustaron mucho fueron:

1) "Cómo matar a los jóvenes y obtener un beneficio mutuo"
2) "Cómo copiar de Internet"
3) "¿Harry Potter perjudica a los adultos?"

Y tres que me parecieron nefastos:

1) "Una generación de alienígenas"
2) "El libro de texto como maestro"
3) "¿Realmente hemos inventado muchas cosas?"

Estos últimos 3 son particularmente desagradables, porque fue Umberto Eco quien escribió "Apocalípticos e Integrados" y uno espera que el hombre esté más pilas con algunas visiones apocalípticas que se le salen como baba de viejo rabioso. Pero, con todo y eso, son (a mí criterio y cuenta) solo 8 ensayos Apocalípticos en un libro con más de 80 ensayos.ensayo no-ficción7 s Valentina Páez65 6

Umberto plantea los objetos como signos al sostener que los mismos conceptos de los objetos tienen que ser considerados a partir de la semiótica. Somos una sociedad materialista donde el intelecto no es un fenómeno que se pueda observar científicamente, Para eco el lenguaje no tiene origen y por lo tanto es el origen de todo. Al no tener origen el lenguaje ya no esta en representación de nada y por ende pierde su relación con el ser y la verdad.7 s David682 296

This collection of over 100 short newspaper columns is an excellent choice to download to your phone reading app of choice in case you find yourself with a few minutes to spare. Whatever uninformed opinions and clickbait that might appear on Twitter or Facebook at the moment you are occupying will not be a fraction as edifying and entertaining as even the dumbest thing the late Umberto Eco had to say.

When an author passes away, his or her estate usually gets busy hustling out in book form whatever leftover odds and ends they can. This is one of those books. This is not to imply that the contents of this book are unworthy of publication or that greedy relatives are cashing in. However, these are columns from a first weekly, and then semi-weekly, column that Eco did for a major Italian newspaper. If they are read one after another, there is a certain sameness. Still, Eco is not to be faulted, I feel, as even the most creative person may have difficulty coming up with fresh perspectives week after week, and many opinions we hold are sincerely held for long periods. The upshot is occasionally the same point gets made two or three times in this collection, a shortcoming that Eco freely admits to in the book’s foreward. Hence the recommendation for optimal consumption above.

Of course, in a collection this, quality will vary, as happens when people are writing on deadline. There are a two essays that I felt, simply, should not have seen the light of day again.

One is “Return to Sender” (Kindle location 3419), which contains an error of fact so preposterous that somebody, somewhere, should have prevented it from be published once again. Here it is: I read recently in La Repubblica that the Federal Reserve are worried about deflation: people are not spending as much, prices are falling, a crisis worse than in times of deflation. So they propose a perishable dollar -- in other words, a banknote with a magnetic strip that gradually loses value, and also loses value if you keep if in the bank. I’m sure Eco was telling the truth when he said this absurd proposal appeared in an Italian newspaper, but he should have had enough sense to check for himself. Failing that, the editor or publisher should have either cut this essay out of the collection, or noted this silly mistake for what it was.

(BTW, I actually checked with the public affairs office of the US Federal Reserve which confirmed that they never considered such a proposal.)

The second essay that really didn't deserve revival is “The Miraculous Mortacc” (location 3699). There are no errors of fact in this essay. It’s just sort of a lazy one-joke piece. Summary: Eco gets some prescription medicine. The medicine comes with the comprehensive required but gruesome list of side effects which could conceivably occur in a tiny minority of cases. After Eco (and the reader) view the entire list, Eco decides to throw away the medicine and gets better by himself.

But far more essays are delightful and will brighten any unexplained delay in public transportation. I especially enjoy when Eco writes about the vexing questions of popular culture, , “Is Harry Potter bad for adults?” (l. 2844) (Answer:No.), and why does the home address of detective Nero Wolfe on West 34th Street seem to slide up and down, east and west, seemingly at random?

Eco also has interesting thoughts on fake news, the cell phone, conspiracies, racism, Catholicism, unread books, book collecting, and being quoted out of context. In general, each essay in this book is going straight to the most interesting column in the newspaper and reading it, but without having to start and abandon all the less interesting columns first.

Many people and historical events are referred to in this book which I did not recognize. In some cases, this is probably due to my inadequate education, and others surely reflected Eco's erudition and love of the obscure. However, I did not feel bad at failing to recognize certain politicians and popular culture figures which may have been familiar to Italian newspaper readers at the moment of original publication. Below, I attempt to corral the references that I did not understand and link them to explanatons, for the possible edification of those of us condemned to live in English-speaking culture. I left out references to people and things which I did not recognize but which I felt were adequately explained in the text, for example, “politicians Urbano Ratazzi and Francesco Crispi” (l. 542) and “Michel Serres is the finest philosophical mind in France today” (l. 563).

Milingo (l. 179), the Republic of Salò (l. 260),
Redonda (l. 330) (Eco actually tells readers to look it up in Wikipedia – I did it for you), pataphysical (l. 331), Stendhal Syndrome (l. 465), Donna Haraway (l. 477), Charles Sanders Pierce (l. 496 and numerous other places), Alcide De Gasperi (l. 539), Pietro Badoglio (l. 539), Luigi Facta (l. 541), monocotyledons (l. 832), Countess of Castiglione (l. 838), Palmiro Togliatti (l. 846), Padre Pio (l. 853), Wanda Osiris (l. 868), Roberto Saviano (l. 941), non possumus (l. 977), Ugo Foscolo (l. 977), the Prix Italia (l. 1308), Theodor Adorno (l. 1318), Countess Pia Bellentani (l. 1571), Piacenza (l. 1594), Maurice Merleau-Ponty (l. 1840), Evola (l. 1890), Montanist (l. 1925), Mario Appelius (l. 2066), “Sister Lúcia's letter about the third secret of Fatima” (l. 2139), Chaldeans (l. 2197), Champollion (l. 2205), Benedetto Croce (l. 2228), Richard Rorty (l. 2242), Quine (l. 2249), Pictura est laicorum literatura (l. 2389), “mulier amicta solis” (l. 2489) (apparently the final word in this phrase was misspelled by Eco or misprinted, should be “sole”), Burchiello (l. 2505), Nerval (l. 2518), Leopardi (l. 2518), Mario Luzi (l. 2518), Eusebius of Caesarea (l. 2530), Lateran Treaty (l. 2631), respondeo dicendum quod (l. 2778), bravoes (l. 2825), the Fox and the Cat (l. 2878), incunabulum (l. 2940, 3130 and 3731), babirusas (l. 2992), Tex Willer (l. 3174), Totò (l. 3181), the Tupamaros in Uruguay (l. 3608), the Thebaid (l. 3618), the Salton Sea (l. 3678)

I received a free electronic galley copy of this book for review. Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for their generosity.read-essays7 s Efka481 275

Umberto Eco man visada labai patiko. Gal tai kiek kuklus išsireiškimas, bet v?lgi, aš kaip ir neketinu ?ia ir dabar prisipažinti jam meil?je, o ir emocija ta n?ra ant tiek stipri. Bet nepaisant to, jo vardas man visada sukelia asociacij? su gera knyga, o kartais jis sugeba ir nustebinti.

Apie pa?i? ši? knyg? per daug nesipl?siu, pasakysiu tik tiek, kad tai yra jo es? rinkinys. 25erius metus jis kas antr? savait? raš? po es? kažkuriam iš vietini? Italijos laikraš?i?, aptardamas visk?, kas tik jam atrod? aktualu ir verta aptarimo, tad nenuostabu ir tai, jog šios atrinktos geriausios iš geriausi?j? - kuri? knygoje gerokai virš 100 - apima itin plat? spektr?. Tiesa, turb?t nieko nenustebinsiu ir parašydamas, kad vienos es? net ir po selekcijos vistiek yra geresn?s už kitas. Pilnai tikiu, kad 2000-aisiais metais Umberto nusisteb?jimas ir pam?stymai apie tai, kad email? gali kas nori registruoti kokiu nori vardu, kad ir Umberto Eco, buvo gal ir visai smag?s, bet dabar toks tekstas jau beviltiškai pasen?s ir daugiau graudžiai juokingas, nei aktualus.

Nepaisant to, kai kurios temos - pavyzdžiui apie senuomen?s ir jaunuomen?s tarpusavio santyk? - yra amžinai aktualios ir nekintan?ios, o autoriaus smagi satyra ir aštri plunksna gerai kelia ? pavirši? visus abiej? pusi? standartinius nepasitenkinimus vienas kitu.

Nieko labai wow šioje knygoje nebuvo, bet tos trys žvaigžut?s, kurias jai skiriu, yra labai stiprios ir pelnytos. apsakymai-rinkiniai non-fiction satyra8 s Nhischarnun Nunthadsirisorn126 44

???????????????????? "????????????????????" ?????????????????????????????????????????
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?????????????????????????? ?????????????? ???????????????! 7 s James537 28

A compilation of short essays Eco wrote over the course of the last 20 years of his life, for L’Espresso magazine.

Most are interesting, some with sharp insight into trends he spotted that plague us today (for example, everyone - apparently - is now an exhibitionist and wants nothing more than to be recognized, whether for doing something good or being a fool, it doesn't matter as long as the person is recognized). Some of the essays are very dated, but for the most part they are still fun to read.

Eco, for all of his intellect and reputation as a difficult author to read, is actually quite accessible and funny.5 s Argos1,108 359

Umberto Eco'nun engin kültüründen yararlanmak isteyenlere, onlarca deneme içeren 500 sayfal?k bir kaynak kitap. Keyifli okuman?n yan?s?ra bazen güldüren bazen dü?ündüren bir kitap. Tek olumsuzlulu?u ?talya'n?n (do?al olarak) politika, media, sanat olaylar? vb konu ve olaylar? fazlaca i?lemesi, bazen insan? s?k?yor ama bu kadar? da olacak.6 s Val Stoeva32 20

???????????? ?????, ??????? ????????????? ?? ???????? ?? ? ?????????? ?? ?????? ?????. ????? ? ????? ???????? ? ????????? ???????, ??????? ?? ? ?????? (??? ??? ?? ????? ?? ????????? ?? ??? ??? ?. ???????), ?? ???? ?????????? ??? ??????? ???????? ? ??????????? ????, ?????????? ?? ?????????? ? ???????????? ?? ????????? ? ?????????? ?? ????????????.
????? ?? ????? ?????? ? ????? ???????.5 s Phakin468 156

???????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ????????????????? '?????? ???????????????????????????' ?????????? '??????' ???????????????????? 555555 s ??? ??????118 9

? ???????? "Pape Satàn aleppe. ??????? ?? ???? ????? ????????" ????? ??????? ????? ?? ?????????? ??????, ????? ??????? ??? ???? ? ?????? ???????????? ??????? "??????? ?? ???????".

?? ????? ???? ???????? ? ???? ?? ?? ??????????? ?? ???? ?????????? ???????.

? ?????? ?? ? ????? ?? ?????, ?? ?? ???? ?????? ? ?????? ?? ?????? - ? ??? ??? ????? ?????, ????? ???? ? ????? ?????????????.
? ?? ??????????? ?????? ???? ? ???????, ???????? ????????? ?? ???????????, ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ? ?? ?? ??????? ??????, ????? ???????? ??????. ? ????? ???? ? ?????? ?? ???????? ? ?????? ?? ??????????????.
? ?? ???-???????? ?, ?? ??????????? ????? ?????? ? ???????, ? ???? ???? ?????, ?????? ???? ?? ?? ????? - "? ??? ? ????. ??? ??? ? ??????!".

? ??????????? ????????? ? ?????? ?? ?? ????????? ??????? ?????? ? ?? ?????? ???? ???????? ????.
??? ??-?????? ? ?? ???? ???? ?????, ?? ?? ????? ?????, ????? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???? ? ??????? ?? ?? ???????.8 s Alex.Rosetti177 29

Pe alocuri, destul de multe, este cartea-pereche pentru "Civiliza?ia spectacolului" - Vargas Llosa!
ps. ?i aici am g?sit "paralele" cu societatea româneasc?. Spre exemplu, Eco explic? destul de bine, vorbind despre "ale?ii neamului", de folosirea populismului mediatic coroborat cu apelul la instinctele necontrolate ale unei popula?ii care nu are deprinderile unei educa?ii critice.
pps. ca s? vedem cât de mult sem?n?m cu "fra?ii no?tri de gint? latin?", doar dou? exemple: guvernatorul unei regiuni folosea ma?ina poli?iei pentru "afaceri private"; o lege electoral? ("Lege Porcellum", 2005) a fost declarat? neconstitu?ional? dup? opt ani.5 s Alex493 112

Societatea lichida este societatea postmodernista: fluida, transformabila.
Cartea este compusa din scurte eseuri grupate pe diverse teme. Teme de actualitate, multe dintre ele cunoscute si traite, altele specifice istoriei contemporane ale Italiei.
Cand citesc Umberto Eco, nu ma pot apleca cu respect in fata eruditiei acestui om. Pot spune ca este o placere sa il citesti navigand prin teme extrem de diverse: internet, rasism, educatie, politica, filozofie, carti.

Colectia de eseuri mi-a adus aminte de "Viata fara frica" - colectie de eseuri in diferite domenii ale lui Bertrand Russell. Acesta vorbea cu atata pofta despre el si despre principiile si punctele lui de vedere incat mi-a pierit pofta sa i le aflu pana la capat. M-am oprit undeva la jumatate.

Este clar, si in "Cronica...." avem de-a face cu opiniile lui Eco. Insa felul lui de a pune problema este mult mai placut, mai amuzant, mai erudit (mult mai erudit ca Russell). Si ii lipseste narcisismul lui Russell. Ce mai, e o lectura placuta.

O stea (sau jumatate de stea) pica din cauza ca i se consacra prea mult spatiu lui Berlusconi. Dar pentru italieni si italienofili e probabil picant.

**************************
The liquid society is the postmodernist society: fluid, transformable.
The book is composed of short essays grouped under various themes. Contemporary themes, many of them known to me and dealt with by me, others specific to the contemporary history of Italy, too specific for a not italian reader to know of.
When I read Umberto Eco, I cannot bow down in awe to this man's erudition. I can say that it is a pleasure to enjoy his stories navigating through extremely diverse topics: the internet, racism, education, politics, philosophy, books.

This collection of essays reminded me of "Life Without Fear" - a collection of essays in various fields by Bertrand Russell. He spoke so hungrily about himself and his principles and views that I lost my appetite to read them all the way through. I stopped somewhere in the middle.

In "Chronicle...." we're also dealing with the views of an important literary figure. But Eco's way of putting it is much more pleasant, more amusing, more erudite (much more erudite than Russell). And he lacks Russell's narcissism. What else, it's an enjoyable read.

One star (or half a star) falls because too much space is devoted to Berlusconi. But for Italians and Italianophiles it's probably spicy.
4 s Haley774 74

This book may have well been entitled “Millennials Need Not Apply.” Baby Boomers will find themselves here, but anyone who was not alive for the WWII or the Vietnam War need not bother. I think even my husband, a fervent Gen-Yer, who is constantly teasing me for just making it into the Millennial category, would be put off by quite a bit of this.

At first, I respected what he was saying–there was quite a bit of nostalgia for his childhood, and it made sense, the way he felt about the world. Fascism, remembering the bomb shelters, a general paranoia about how the world was starting to resemble those days. But then he really started digging into the Internet and how detrimental it was to society and it went from a slight paranoia to total lack of respect and absolute conspiracy.

In many of the essays, I would think “Okay, I know what this is going to be about, let’s see what Eco has to say.” But by the end, I would be thinking “Does he even know?” He completely loses the thread on his own thoughts. Plus, they are totally outdated. It’s a posthumous collection, so I kind of understand that. But I’m not really interested in reading about your hatred of the Internet when you’re ranting about Windows Vista.

Not to mention, the guy was just an asshole. There’s a story he tells–no, brags–where he is walking towards a girl with a cellphone, and just stops right in front of her so she runs into him and drops it. “I only hope her cell phone broke when it fell, and I advise anyone in a similar situation to do as I did.” I read a few more essays after this, but that was pretty much it for me. The next section was all about the conspiracy of 9/11, and well, no thanks.4 s Ae17 10

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Eco has this timeless, reliable way of observing and writing about those observations that I’ll always enjoy reading. Sensible reactions and good-natured skepticism without malice, sprinkled in with his old-man humor that I love (“The miraculous Mortacc”). He writes about everything, from technology, to current events, coffee, porn (seriously), and of course books. So for some time after reading his essay collections, I usually interrupt every other conversation with “oh I just read an essay about that…”. And it’s all very good-natured: although the topics are usually serious and sometimes dire (and sometimes neither, him complaining about bad coffee or prescription side effects), you come out with some insight and maybe a laugh; never grim or depressed. I think Eco is an optimist—or at least a satisfied realist—and he’s encouraging you to be one too.

I d most the flanking sections on technology (the sections Online, On Cell Phones) and education (sections A Good Education, On Books, From Stupidity to Folly). My favorites in this whole collection came from the On Books section: “Is Harry Potter bad for adults?” “The whiff of books” “On unread books” “The Catcher in the Rye fifty years on” and some of the Education ones—“Who gets cited most” poses skepticism about quantifying impact (academic journals have ratings based on how much their articles are cited; scholars are encouraged to publish in highly-rated “high impact” journals; Eco criticizes this whole system), and I bet a lot of my academic friends would have a lot to say on that. There’s a bit of a luddite showing (On Cell Phones, “On the obsolescence of digital media”, “I tweet therefore I am”, etc.). But I think that’s okay (blithe acceptance of The New is worse). I appreciated less the columns on outright politics and economics (e.g. sections On Conspiracies, On Mass Media), since they seemed more Current Events commentary that I’m generally uninterested in. I do always getting from Eco a little sprinkle of Italian culture throughout — there’s a lot of casual mentions of Italian authors, school curriculum, popular memes and artists, and religious culture that I’m not familiar with, and I always appreciate that he can still draw universal insights from a background that’s pretty different from my own.

A lot of his concerns are ones that showed up in the latest US presidential debates—“The loss of privacy” (self-explanatory, data as a commodity), “Wave ciao ciao to the camera” on global warming, and especially Andrew Yang’s core platform in “Give us a few more deaths”, where Eco talks about how technological innovation is causing “accelerated re-employment”

“The challenge is therefore to provide professional training [to blue collar workers] to ensure rapid reemployment. … machines today are more or less universal; their physical structure is far less important than the software programs that make them work … To deal with the prospect of accelerated reemployment, a large part of professional training will have to be intellectual development: learning about software more than about the machine’s hardware, its structure, its physical components … otherwise, innovation will always and only produce unemployment. [2003]” (279)

Yang talked endlessly about how automation is a threat to employment and will undercut the most vulnerable blue collar segments of society who don’t have software skills. My own brother started work as a car mechanic because he is a genius with cars, but he’s mentioned that his new job at a luxury car dealer is overwhelmingly, simply running software updates. Boring.

Overall the collection is a solid one, and continues my appreciation for Eco as one of my favorite writers, for both fiction and non-. It is kind of interesting how this is both a posthumous collection (well, I guess the English translation came out two years post-death, but perhaps the Italian was published in his lifetime), but also Foreword’d by him. It is however a collection that’s more for the completionist than one that I’d recommend for a casual reader looking to sample him. After all, these are just snippets from a long-running newspaper column, so they’re somewhat disconnected and can be a bit repetitive. They’re all one-pagers centered around a small nugget of insight or observation, which is a good introduction to his style of analysis but Eco really shines in longer essays where you really can marinate in his thought experiments. I would suggest How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays for a more emphatic essays with bigger impact. favorites3 s YuAuthor 4 books61

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