Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

A long-standing bit of cultural faith is that of all the millions of people who bought copies of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, a small percentage thereof actually read it -- most simply bought it so they could have it on their shelves and feel the vibes of brilliance cascading off it. A literary status symbol, not unlike toting around a copy of David Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

(I did read Hawking's book. But I make this claim with the adjoining disclaimer that my most frequent utterance whilst doing so was "Huh?" I also read the Eggers volume, which I greatly enjoyed. But since I came away from it with my heart most certainly not broken, I think I missed something there, too.)

There are many reasons why we read the books we do, and there are times when we select our books as status -- what we read reflects on who we are. Richard Bach once wrote, "If I want to understand someone quickly, I look at his bookshelf." This is also true of presidential candidates, who are always selecting those books that make them look either reflective, statesmanlike, or deeply faithful. Of course, there's nothing wrong with this per se -- especially if they're actually reading these books and not just dropping titles. But still, I'd love to hear a candidate say something like, "Well, I'm reading Lord of the Rings for the sixth time. And there's a new cookbook out by Alton Brown that's a hoot. I recently finished the new Tom Clancy, and I think I'm going to stop buying him in hardcover -- he's just too bloated. And say, when exactly does the new Harry Potter come out?"