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De los libros
Uno de los mejores ensayos de Michel de Montaigne en una fantástica edición ilustrada de Max con nueva traducción de María Teresa Gallego.
"Sólo busco en los libros el gusto que me proporcione un honrado entretenimiento; o, si estudio, sólo busco la ciencia que trate del conocimiento de mí mismo y que me instruya en un bien morir y un bien vivir."
"Sólo busco en los libros el gusto que me proporcione un honrado entretenimiento; o, si estudio, sólo busco la ciencia que trate del conocimiento de mí mismo y que me instruya en un bien morir y un bien vivir."
- GenresNonfictionEssays
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1580
3 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Michel de Montaigne
1,587 books1,560 followersMichel Eyquem de Montaigne (1532-1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography—and his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts") contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from William Shakespeare to René Descartes, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Stephan Zweig, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was a conservative and earnest Catholic but, as a result of his anti-dogmatic cast of mind, he is considered the father, alongside his contemporary and intimate friend Étienne de La Boétie, of the "anti-conformist" tradition in French literature.
In his own time, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman then as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, "I am myself the matter of my book", was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne would be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt which began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, "Que sais-je?" ("What do I know?").
Remarkably modern even to readers today, Montaigne's attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only thing he can depend on implicitly—his own judgment—makes him more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance. Much of modern literary nonfiction has found inspiration in Montaigne, and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling.
In his own time, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman then as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, "I am myself the matter of my book", was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne would be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt which began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, "Que sais-je?" ("What do I know?").
Remarkably modern even to readers today, Montaigne's attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only thing he can depend on implicitly—his own judgment—makes him more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance. Much of modern literary nonfiction has found inspiration in Montaigne, and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 15, 2019
Pues un extracto de esos que te compras pensando que es algo nuevo y lo único nuevo es el enésimo timo de la editorial de marras. Nórdica es fabulosa en editar trozos de otros libros, ponerles títulos atractivos y dibujos guays (Max lo ilustra bien) y cobrarte 15 pavos. En fin, que es un trozo de los Ensayos y le doy cinco estrellas, porque Montaigne mola y viene bien, ya que explica cómo no debe uno escribir en esta vida, ni que sea una instancia a Hacienda.
March 23, 2024
¿Alguna vez te has sumergido en un libro y has sentido que estás navegando por un océano infinito de ideas y reflexiones? Si es así, entonces "De los libros" de Michel de Montaigne es una pequeña pieza de su escrito “Ensayos” publicado en 1850 la obra mas conocida del autor la cual abarca una amplia gama de temas, desde la filosofía y la moralidad hasta la política y la naturaleza humana, que definitivamente deberías explorar.
Al leer "De los libros", el lector se embarca en un viaje de autoexploración y reflexión, cuestionando su propia relación con la literatura y el conocimiento. Montaigne nos desafía a examinar nuestras motivaciones para leer, así como los beneficios y las limitaciones de la búsqueda del conocimiento a través de los libros. Con este ensayo Montaigne no solo expone sus preferencias literarias, sino que también reflexiona sobre la naturaleza del conocimiento, la educación y el papel de los libros en la vida del hombre
Es un excelente ensayo con un estilo ameno y accesible, con una prosa fluida que en momento se ve pintada por el humor y la ironía. A pesar de su brevedad, no deja de ser profundo en las ideas, no pretende ser un texto con verdades absolutas, sino que nos invita a generar debate y dialogo entre los lectores.
Al leer "De los libros", el lector se embarca en un viaje de autoexploración y reflexión, cuestionando su propia relación con la literatura y el conocimiento. Montaigne nos desafía a examinar nuestras motivaciones para leer, así como los beneficios y las limitaciones de la búsqueda del conocimiento a través de los libros. Con este ensayo Montaigne no solo expone sus preferencias literarias, sino que también reflexiona sobre la naturaleza del conocimiento, la educación y el papel de los libros en la vida del hombre
Es un excelente ensayo con un estilo ameno y accesible, con una prosa fluida que en momento se ve pintada por el humor y la ironía. A pesar de su brevedad, no deja de ser profundo en las ideas, no pretende ser un texto con verdades absolutas, sino que nos invita a generar debate y dialogo entre los lectores.
September 26, 2021
¡Cuando los libros llegan de una manera mágica!
Cachetes, gracias por este libro, por este libro que hace unos días tocó a mi puerta; así, como el exlibris de Montaigne, donde a la ventana de su alta torre un ave llegaba con los libros.
De filósofos griegos y latinos, de poetas latinos y de historiadores antiguos o recientes, de la naturaleza de sus escritos y sus estudios.
De cómo Montaigne los entendía: aburridos -con eternos prólogos y entremeses-, o amenos -de prosa fluida y precisa información-, y de cómo escribían la historia, objetivos o parciales, a estos últimos casi hasta llamarlos cómplices.
"Cuando la grandeza y la sabiduría coincidían", refiriéndose a historiadores romanos, grandes cronistas de su época, que describían los más mínimos detalles de su tiempo y de las batallas.
De la naturaleza de sus lecturas: lecturas que buscaban un entendimiento de sí mismo, lecturas que apuntaban al placer por el placer de leer, que le dieran un buen vivir y lo engrandecieran en un buen morir.
Y de sus "fichas", apuntes que dejaba en la última página de los libros con información general de cómo le había parecido el libro.
Estoy convencido de que era esto lo que buscaba en ese pequeño libor de Marcel Proust, Sobre la lectura, esa relación natural e íntima con los libros y sus autores, ese ejercicio personal y privado que es la lectura. La respuesta estaba unos siglos atrás en este autor.
Cachetes, gracias por este libro, por este libro que hace unos días tocó a mi puerta; así, como el exlibris de Montaigne, donde a la ventana de su alta torre un ave llegaba con los libros.
De filósofos griegos y latinos, de poetas latinos y de historiadores antiguos o recientes, de la naturaleza de sus escritos y sus estudios.
De cómo Montaigne los entendía: aburridos -con eternos prólogos y entremeses-, o amenos -de prosa fluida y precisa información-, y de cómo escribían la historia, objetivos o parciales, a estos últimos casi hasta llamarlos cómplices.
"Cuando la grandeza y la sabiduría coincidían", refiriéndose a historiadores romanos, grandes cronistas de su época, que describían los más mínimos detalles de su tiempo y de las batallas.
De la naturaleza de sus lecturas: lecturas que buscaban un entendimiento de sí mismo, lecturas que apuntaban al placer por el placer de leer, que le dieran un buen vivir y lo engrandecieran en un buen morir.
Y de sus "fichas", apuntes que dejaba en la última página de los libros con información general de cómo le había parecido el libro.
Estoy convencido de que era esto lo que buscaba en ese pequeño libor de Marcel Proust, Sobre la lectura, esa relación natural e íntima con los libros y sus autores, ese ejercicio personal y privado que es la lectura. La respuesta estaba unos siglos atrás en este autor.
June 14, 2025
On books aka De los Libros by Michel de Montaigne – this is one of The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, selected as one of The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, my note on a section of this massive magnum opus is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where you find a few hundred more reviews
10 out of 10
It is something of a surprise, at least for the less well informed among us, to find such an erudite author and reader, right there, at the end of the sixteenth century, otherwise the period of The Middle Ages, also stigmatized as the Dark Ages, and this proves it was not as backward as we might think, at least on some counts
Yes, they had the Inquisition, but even that was not the killing, torturing machine most might think – I was reading in The Economist, in the Culture zone, where they reviewed this book about the subject, that they did not want to get a bad reputation, so they did not torture all and sunder, they used some tricks in their trade
First, people were faithful, those who knew they have done wrong confessed, but when others insisted, they were innocent, the strategy was to test their veracity with boiled water, God will protect the pure, but the Inquisition men would just use tepid water, when they had a notion that the accused were innocent…
‘The person who doesn’t read lives only one life. The reader lives 5,000. Reading is immortality backwards.’ This is a quote from Umberto Eco, reading The Essays of Montaigne is extending life, falls into immortality backwards, but there are books that make one think of Arthur Schopenhauer and his take on this
‘One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.’ I am now enjoying The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
She is the ultimate expert on religion https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and so Enlighted, astute, convincing, that she may convert this reader – we need to speak in a few weeks’ time though – only there are other works that I have to struggle with, or abandon
‘I think novels ought to tell a story and have a theme and give you a sense that a problem has been proposed and solved’ this is from the letters of Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/... he is my absolute number one now
I am also nearly finished with Orbital, the latest winner of The Booker Prize – in fact, it was awarded just a couple of weeks ago – the second shortest, winner, after the fabulous Offshore https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/... by Penelope Fitzgerald - and it is a good read
Alas, it was not overwhelming, which does not fit in the category of bad, or it does not ‘tell a story’, it is just that the story might not be for this reader, I have never been very enthusiastic about space, Science Fiction is not my favorite, Planet of the Apes and a few others excepted, what with six astronauts given leading roles
At the same time, there is The Secret History and this is an enticing subject, the book has been ‘on the table’ for weeks now, in a good sense, not because it is boring, but there was a reluctance to just pass it away, be finished with it, it has Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc, Galileo and many others, with attention paid to the esoteric
I tried Confessions of a Justified Sinner, but it did not work, now there is another try, on LibriVox, the way I operate here is take on six or more books, there is Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... in kindle, along with Orbital
Alternating with these two, also in kindle, are The Letters of Kingsley Amis, the latter will take close to fifty hours, about twenty-eight I think are left, but they are such a pleasure to read, more than the erotic, arousing stories that make up The Delta of Venus, with so many ‘forbidden words and happenings that there are repercussions’
My posts on the blog have been censored, there is a warning about content on a few of them, those about the Anais Nin stories, where all I do is use quotes, where the intercourse, felatio, lesbian and other interactions are explicit and unbelievable, I thought that is for the likes of…I even forgot the name of the author
We used to have those books with sex, but now, with internet porn and so much on offer, that is probably a thing of the past – I look forward to taking some of the outstanding magnum opera that I have loved, and read again, especially given that some new offers are not up to the expectations, Orbital is there
That Uncertain Feeling https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/... was the second novel by Kingsley Amis, and I wonder if it might be a good idea to try and read his work in ‘order now’, as opposed to just moving from one to the next, without a system, the first time around
What is certain, it will a pleasure nonetheless, just like Michel de Montaigne, who offers a different kind of pleasure, more serious, with Kingsley Amis, one is sure to laugh perfume Eau d’Ulan Bator comes to mind, he has that in The Russian Girl, I think
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
10 out of 10
It is something of a surprise, at least for the less well informed among us, to find such an erudite author and reader, right there, at the end of the sixteenth century, otherwise the period of The Middle Ages, also stigmatized as the Dark Ages, and this proves it was not as backward as we might think, at least on some counts
Yes, they had the Inquisition, but even that was not the killing, torturing machine most might think – I was reading in The Economist, in the Culture zone, where they reviewed this book about the subject, that they did not want to get a bad reputation, so they did not torture all and sunder, they used some tricks in their trade
First, people were faithful, those who knew they have done wrong confessed, but when others insisted, they were innocent, the strategy was to test their veracity with boiled water, God will protect the pure, but the Inquisition men would just use tepid water, when they had a notion that the accused were innocent…
‘The person who doesn’t read lives only one life. The reader lives 5,000. Reading is immortality backwards.’ This is a quote from Umberto Eco, reading The Essays of Montaigne is extending life, falls into immortality backwards, but there are books that make one think of Arthur Schopenhauer and his take on this
‘One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.’ I am now enjoying The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
She is the ultimate expert on religion https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and so Enlighted, astute, convincing, that she may convert this reader – we need to speak in a few weeks’ time though – only there are other works that I have to struggle with, or abandon
‘I think novels ought to tell a story and have a theme and give you a sense that a problem has been proposed and solved’ this is from the letters of Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/... he is my absolute number one now
I am also nearly finished with Orbital, the latest winner of The Booker Prize – in fact, it was awarded just a couple of weeks ago – the second shortest, winner, after the fabulous Offshore https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/... by Penelope Fitzgerald - and it is a good read
Alas, it was not overwhelming, which does not fit in the category of bad, or it does not ‘tell a story’, it is just that the story might not be for this reader, I have never been very enthusiastic about space, Science Fiction is not my favorite, Planet of the Apes and a few others excepted, what with six astronauts given leading roles
At the same time, there is The Secret History and this is an enticing subject, the book has been ‘on the table’ for weeks now, in a good sense, not because it is boring, but there was a reluctance to just pass it away, be finished with it, it has Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc, Galileo and many others, with attention paid to the esoteric
I tried Confessions of a Justified Sinner, but it did not work, now there is another try, on LibriVox, the way I operate here is take on six or more books, there is Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... in kindle, along with Orbital
Alternating with these two, also in kindle, are The Letters of Kingsley Amis, the latter will take close to fifty hours, about twenty-eight I think are left, but they are such a pleasure to read, more than the erotic, arousing stories that make up The Delta of Venus, with so many ‘forbidden words and happenings that there are repercussions’
My posts on the blog have been censored, there is a warning about content on a few of them, those about the Anais Nin stories, where all I do is use quotes, where the intercourse, felatio, lesbian and other interactions are explicit and unbelievable, I thought that is for the likes of…I even forgot the name of the author
We used to have those books with sex, but now, with internet porn and so much on offer, that is probably a thing of the past – I look forward to taking some of the outstanding magnum opera that I have loved, and read again, especially given that some new offers are not up to the expectations, Orbital is there
That Uncertain Feeling https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/... was the second novel by Kingsley Amis, and I wonder if it might be a good idea to try and read his work in ‘order now’, as opposed to just moving from one to the next, without a system, the first time around
What is certain, it will a pleasure nonetheless, just like Michel de Montaigne, who offers a different kind of pleasure, more serious, with Kingsley Amis, one is sure to laugh perfume Eau d’Ulan Bator comes to mind, he has that in The Russian Girl, I think
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
October 6, 2022
QUOTES:
Solo busco en los libros el gusto que me proporcione un honrado entretenimiento; o, si estudio, solo busco la ciencia que trate del conocimiento de mí mismo y que me instruya en un bien morir y un bien vivir.
Las únicas obras de Historia buenas son las que escribieron quienes estaban al frente de los acontecimientos o participaban en dirigirlos o, al menos, quienes tuvieron la oportunidad de hacer otro tanto con otros semejantes; a estas pertenecen casi todas las griegas y romanas, pues, al escribir sobre el mismo tema varios testigos oculares (como sucedía en aquellos tiempos en que solía ocurrir que la grandeza y la sabiduría coincidieran), si hubiere algún error sería extraordinariamente leve y sobre algún acontecimiento muy dudoso.
No existe corrupción tal que pueda haberse adueñado de los hombres de forma tan universal que no quede al menos uno libre del contagio.
Solo busco en los libros el gusto que me proporcione un honrado entretenimiento; o, si estudio, solo busco la ciencia que trate del conocimiento de mí mismo y que me instruya en un bien morir y un bien vivir.
Las únicas obras de Historia buenas son las que escribieron quienes estaban al frente de los acontecimientos o participaban en dirigirlos o, al menos, quienes tuvieron la oportunidad de hacer otro tanto con otros semejantes; a estas pertenecen casi todas las griegas y romanas, pues, al escribir sobre el mismo tema varios testigos oculares (como sucedía en aquellos tiempos en que solía ocurrir que la grandeza y la sabiduría coincidieran), si hubiere algún error sería extraordinariamente leve y sobre algún acontecimiento muy dudoso.
No existe corrupción tal que pueda haberse adueñado de los hombres de forma tan universal que no quede al menos uno libre del contagio.
January 31, 2024
Amo a Montaigne, pero este ensayo tiene un título con una promesa enorme que entrega poco (un par de frases muy buenas, sus autores predilectos y breves reflexiones sobre leer). Se lee de un tirón. Estuvo meh para el nivel de Montaigne.
October 7, 2019
Las ilustraciones de la edición de Nórdica también se merecen las cinco estrellas.
May 11, 2021
Breves pensamientos y a su vez divertidos
February 20, 2025
Hasta que entras en materia, se te hace un poco pesado, pero luego está muy bien.
Read
June 8, 2025Evaluar este libro no le haría justicia a Montaigne.
December 25, 2024
🌲〰️Sólo busco en los libros el gusto que me proporcione un honrado entretenimiento
August 5, 2022
De los libros es uno de los múltiples ensayos de Montaigne. A su modo, puedo decir que es una reflexión acerca de la lectura en las dos vertientes que le gustaban a su autor: es decir, la lectura por deleite y de asuntos de interés para vivir mejor.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews