Unread Book Project

The Unread Book Project at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery

2009-08-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Unread Book Project will be part of a group exhibition at the Adobe Books Backroom Gallery in San Francisco opening in mid-September.

I am excited to present a new iteration of the Unread Book Project for this group exhibition. To take advantage of the Adobe Books environment, I am creating an interactive component in which gallery visitors and book lovers will be able to peruse the books in Adobe Books and discover copies of books that are also in my Unread Book Project.

I will also be presenting a compilation of all the stories associated with the books in the Unread Book Project in book form. This book will be published in conjunction with the group exhibition and available for purchase during the course of the exhibition.

As usual, I am putting out a call for unread books for anyone who has yet to participate in the project. If you or anyone you know might be interested in participating in this project, please contact me at: unreadbookproject@gmail.com

Look for more details in the next few weeks!

Exchanges in The Unread Book Project

2008-11-30T12:13:00.000-08:00

This is a list of one to one exchanges in the Unread Book Project

Stranger in a Strange Land taken for The Diamond Age

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay taken for The Great Unraveling

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men taken for Eleanor Roosevelt

Neuromancer taken for The Pillars of Hercules

I Could Do Anything taken for A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Motherless Brooklyn taken for The Poetry of Robert Frost

The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way taken for S/Z

Genome taken for Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction

The Tibetan Book of the Dead taken for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot

XXXXX taken for Dinosaurs Before Dark

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri taken for Stupid White Men

Forget Foucault taken for The Inscrutable Americans

The Unread Book Collection - Updated August 2009

2008-11-30T11:39:00.002-08:00

As of November 30, 2008, this is the current composition of the Unread Book Project:

The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil (personal collection)

All Gall Is Divided by E. M. Cioran

All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos

Alligators, Old Mink and New Money by Alison Houtte and Melissa Houtte

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (exchanged)

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God by Jonah Blank

The Art of the Story edited by Daniel Halpern

Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks

Beauty compiled by John Miller (personal collection)

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Bel-ami by Guy de Maupassant

The Bhagavad-Gita translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (being read)

Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace (exchanged)

The Bully of Bentonville by Anthony Bianco

Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins

Cambodia by Nick Ray

The Cold Moons by Aeron Clement

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot by Arlene Tognetti and Lisa Lenard

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Daddies and Daughters by Carmen Renee Berry and Lynn Barrington

Dante edited by Mark Musa (personal collection)

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri by Dante Alighieri

Drop City by T.C. Boyle (personal collection)

The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way by Ethan Coen (exchanged)

Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 1 by Blanche Wiesen Cook

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt (personal collection)

The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks (personal collection)

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (personal collection)

Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger

Fire From the Mountain by Omar Cabezas

Flet: A Novel by Joyelle McSweeney

Forget Foucault by Jean Baudrillard (exchanged)

Fragments for a History of the Human Body edited by Michel Feher, Ramona Naddaff, and Nadia Tazi

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler

A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis by Sigmund Freud (personal collection)

Genome by Matt Ridley (personal collection, exchanged)

George Bush, Dark Prince of Love by Lydia Millet

Goethe's Faust by Goethe

Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth

The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman

Heartbreak House by Bernard Shaw

His Father's Son: The Life of Randolph Churchill by Winston S. Churchill

The Holy Bible placed by the Gideons

Holy Smoke by G. Cabrera Infante

Human Remains by Helen MacDonald

The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

I Could Do Anything by Barbara Sher (exchanged)

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

Interstate by Stephen Dixon

Introducing American Politics by Patrick Brogan and Chris Garrett

Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas (personal collection)

The Long Green by William Campbell Gault

Me So Far by Donald Jack

Meta-Capitalism by Grady Means and David Schneider

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

The Misunderstood Jew by Amy-Jill Levine

Molvania by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, and Rob Sitch

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (exchanged)

Must-Win Battles by Peter Killing, Thomas Malnight, and Tracey Keys

Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About by Kevin Trudeau

Neuromancer by William Gibson (personal collection, exchanged)

The Nobility of Failure by Ivan Morris

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (personal collection)

Nude in Tub by G.K. Wuori

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

On the Road with Michael by Mark Bego

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Outwitting Dogs by Terry Ryan and Kirsten Mortensen

To Paint Her Life by Mary Lowenthal Felstiner (personal collection)

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton (personal collection)

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The Passionate Observer by Jean -Henri Fabre

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

Perfect Weight America by Jordan Rubin

A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown

The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux

The Poetry of Robert Frost by Robert Frost

Poker Nation by Andy Bellin

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction by N. David Mermin

Rachel's Tears by Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott

The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck, M.D.

S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic

Sahara by Clive Cussler

The Salterton Trilogy by Robertson Davies

The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger

Slowness by Milan Kundera (personal collection)

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (personal collection, exchanged)

Stupid White Men by Michael Moore

S/Z by Roland Barthes

Tao Te Ching translated by Victor H. Mair (personal collection)

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (personal collection)

The Tibetan Book of the Dead translated by Robert A.F. Thurman (personal collection, exchanged)

Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

Ulysses by James Joyce

Understanding China by John Bryan Starr (personal collection)

Unequal Treatment by Institute of Medicine

The Vintage Book of Amnesia edited by Jonathan Lethem (personal collection)

The Voyage of the Narwhat by Andrea Barrett

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The Way of a Pilgrim translated by R.M. French (personal collection)

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

The Way of Zen by Alan Watts (personal collection)

We've Got Spirit by James T. McElroy

What Did I Just Say !?! by Denis Donovan, M.D., M.Ed. and Deborah McIntyre, M.A., R.N.

What is a Jew? by Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer

Wooden Fish Songs by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

XXXXX by Dana Buckley (exchanged)

Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurence G. Boldt

Notes:

-personal collection denotes books from my continually growing collection of unread books
-exchanged denotes books that have left the collection through a trade

Future Shock

2008-11-22T00:12:00.000-08:00

How did you come to acquire this book?

Either I bought it at a garage sale or thrift store, probably the latter and about fifteen years ago. I think the title struck me and the picture of the author on the back. It was so nostalgic.

Why has this book remained unread?

I put it on the shelf with many othesr that had already been waiting their turn. Time passed and I finally tried to sit down with it on a couple occasions. I started and stopped. I think the title says it. When I tried reading it I would thing about the generations before and the always distorted perception of the future and what it's going to be like . The book still interests me and maybe I'll read it someday.

S.P. 10/08

The Salterton Trilogy

2008-11-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

How did you come to acquire this book?

I bought this book at the used bookstore.

Why has this book remained unread?

I liked this author a long time ago, but I did not remember reading this one. I guess my tastes have changed and I could not get into it. I am not sure if I am getting lazy in my old age.

M.S. 10/08

Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About

2008-11-18T22:54:00.001-08:00

How did you come to acquire this book?

Was a gift

Why has this book remained unread?

Strongly put off by the premise of them versus you

A.F. 10/08

His Father's Son: The Life of Randolph Churchill

2008-11-18T22:48:00.000-08:00

How did you come to acquire this book?

Accidentally, possibly as a bad joke, via Amazon...

Why has this book remained unread?

It's about Churchill's son, not Winston Churchill!

G.I. 9/08

Ongoing Call for Unread Books

2008-11-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

With the close of the Overload exhibition at ATHICA at the beginning of November, I am back in possession of The Unread Book Project. I am pleased to say that the collection has grown significantly while it was on exhibition at ATHICA.

I am always looking for unread books to add to the collection - this is an ongoing project.

Now is the time to rummage through your bookshelves, piles of books next to your bed, in your closet, or in the recycling bin. All I need is one unread book from you to donate to the project. If you so choose, your donated unread book entitles you to an exchange with another unread book in the collection of your choosing.

If you have already participated in The Unread Book Project, then THANK YOU!

If you know anyone that would be interested in taking part in this project, please pass along this blog address and encourage them to be part of this art installation.

See below for details on how to participate:

Guidelines for participating in the Unread Book Project:

1. One donated (1) unread book per participant

"Unread" for these purposes is defined as never read, or started but never finished

2. Answers to the following two (2) questions about the unread book:

A) How did you come to acquire this book?

B) Why has this book remained unread?

Send me an e-mail letting me your interest in participating in this project at unreadbookproject@gmail.com. I'll contact you and figure out the easiest way for you to get your unread book and responses into the project.

Thank you again for taking a peek into this project and thank you to all of you who have participated over the last few years!

Arthur

Video and Photographs of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA

2008-10-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

For photographs of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA as part of the Overload exhibition:

Click Here!!!

There are a handful of photographs by Travis Hunt of the Red and Black which are noted.

For video footage of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA:

Click Here!!!

For video footage of an overview of the Overload exhibition at ATHICA:

Click Here!!!

The Unread Book Project Collection

2008-07-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

As of July 4, 2008, this is the current composition of the Unread Book Project:

The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil (personal collection)

All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (exchanged)

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

The Art of the Story edited by Daniel Halpern

Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks

Beauty compiled by John Miller (personal collection)

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Bel-ami by Guy de Maupassant

The Bhagavad-Gita translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (being read)

Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace (exchanged)

Cambodia by Nick Ray

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Daddies and Daughters by Carmen Renee Berry and Lynn Barrington

Dante edited by Mark Musa (personal collection)

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Drop City by T.C. Boyle (personal collection)

The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way by Ethan Coen

Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 1 by Blanche Wiesen Cook

The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt (personal collection)

The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks (personal collection)

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (personal collection)

Fire From the Mountain by Omar Cabezas

Flet: A Novel by Joyelle McSweeney

Forget Foucault by Jean Baudrillard

Fragments for a History of the Human Body edited by Michel Feher, Ramona Naddaff, and Nadia Tazi

A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis by Sigmund Freud (personal collection)

Genome by Matt Ridley (personal collection)

George Bush, Dark Prince of Love by Lydia Millet

The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman

The Holy Bible placed by the Gideons

Holy Smoke by G. Cabrera Infante

Human Remains by Helen MacDonald

The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

I Could Do Anything by Barbara Sher (exchanged)

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

Introducing American Politics by Patrick Brogan and Chris Garrett

Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas (personal collection)

Me So Far by Donald Jack

Meta-Capitalism by Grady Means and David Schneider

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

The Misunderstood Jew by Amy-Jill Levine

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Must-Win Battles by Peter Killing, Thomas Malnight, and Tracey Keys

Neuromancer by William Gibson (personal collection, exchanged)

The Nobility of Failure by Ivan Morris

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (personal collection)

Nude in Tub by G.K. Wuori

On the Road with Michael by Mark Bego

Outwitting Dogs by Terry Ryan and Kirsten Mortensen

To Paint Her Life by Mary Lowenthal Felstiner (personal collection)

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton (personal collection)

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The Passionate Observer by Jean -Henri Fabre

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown

The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux

Poker Nation by Andy Bellin

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck, M.D.

S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic

The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger

Slowness by Milan Kundera (personal collection)

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (personal collection, exchanged)

Tao Te Ching translated by Victor H. Mair (personal collection)

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (personal collection)

The Tibetan Book of the Dead translated by Robert A.F. Thurman (personal collection)

Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

Ulysses by James Joyce

Understanding China by John Bryan Starr (personal collection)

Unequal Treatment by Institute of Medicine

The Vintage Book of Amnesia edited by Jonathan Lethem (personal collection)

The Voyage of the Narwhat by Andrea Barrett

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The Way of a Pilgrim translated by R.M. French (personal collection)

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

The Way of Zen by Alan Watts (personal collection)

We've Got Spirit by James T. McElroy

What Did I Just Say !?! by Denis Donovan, M.D., M.Ed. and Deborah McIntyre, M.A., R.N.

What is a Jew? by Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer

Wooden Fish Songs by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

Notes:

-personal collection denotes books from my continually growing collection of unread books
-exchanged denotes books that have left the collection through a trade

Installation Photos from Mercury 20 Gallery

2007-09-30T22:07:00.001-07:00

So I'm finally getting around to posting photos from a very successful first installation of the Unread Book Project at Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland. I want to thank everyone who has taken part in the project so far and continue to invite people to participate in this project. I have been sending out proposals to show this project at additional venues and hope to find another local Bay Area venue in the coming months.

In the meantime, here are some pictures...

Installation View of the Unread Book Project

The unread books

Detail photograph of the unread books
Stories of how the books were acquired and why they were not read

One of the stories

What is the Unread Book Project?

2007-07-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

The Unread Book Project is conceptual installation/performance piece which was conceived as a result of my almost uncontrollable desire to buy books.

The Unread Book Project is a response to my unrelenting habit of walking into the bookstore, almost always buying a book or books, bringing them home, and ultimately watching them accumulate throughout my apartment – UNREAD. The reasons that I bought all these books were varied. Sometimes I bought a book because I was having a bad day. Other times, I bought a book because I thought it would make me more intelligent. Maybe I bought a book because I liked the feel of the pages. The act of buying books has always been a hopeful one. There is possibility in a new book.

The flipside of this is accumulating unread books. Unread books represent failure for me. There is the failure to read the books, the failure to spend my money wisely, the failure of laziness (making the choice to channel surf instead of opening one of these books), and ultimately the failure of understanding my interests and desires. I wanted to understand what drove myself and other people to collect a library of unread books and thus began the Unread Book Project.

This project debuted at the Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, CA on August 3, 2007 as part of an exhibition entitled "Reading, Not Reading, Coffee, and Theories" with Mary V. Marsh.

The piece consisted of several different parts which included a modest library of unread books on display that I have received from friends and acquaintances to seed this project.

In addition, I had the stories from each of the unread books on display in the gallery. These stories were volunteered by the participants and they answered two questions:

1. How was the book obtained?

2. Why has it remained unread?

During the course of the exhibition, I checked in unread books that might be brought into the gallery space. Gallery visitors who brought an unread book also perused the library collection and could exchange their unread book for a book in the library.