“介于大家都偶尔需要让自己听起来显得更有文化层次一些(或者至少假装我们读过那些大家都在使劲儿谈论的书),本书作者决定写一本这方面的启蒙读物。这本书是写给那些爱书但缺乏足够时间去阅读的聪明人的。”《西雅图邮讯报》介绍法国人Pierre Bayard的新书《如何谈论一本你没有读过的书》时是这样说的。 “The book author decides to write an encyclopedia of books in this area, just as everybody occasionally needs to make himself sound culturally literate (or at least pretend we’ve read books that everyone is talking about). This book is for those who love books but do not have enough time to read. ”“ This is how the Seattle Mail newspaper introduced the French book ”How to talk about a book you have not read" of.