I still remember the first lecture of this exercise. The first thought was “Oh no, should I read a book?” but then, when I discovered that I shouldn’t, I was excited about the idea to have a book as a friend: weird as a thing but fascinating at the same time.
Our relationship as friend went very good. The first task was like seeing his social profile, nothing more. The second one, the contact, was the most significant for me. I remember that I went to the library in the central building of the ETH and already on the bike ride I wondered what my looked like. I was a little nervous because I was thinking about how I should behave, just so we’re clear it was like I was going on a date with a girl I met on Tinder. Crazy. I never thought I’d feel this way about a book.
The content of the book also attracted my attention: admiring the ancestors’ villas and those magnificent technical drawings was to my liking.
Anyway, the tasks always excited me, except for the third one because I couldn’t find copies and translations of my book.
I really experienced this exercise as a friendship, and all friendships mark you in life. I’m not saying that the book influenced my way of being or anything like that but I had the opportunity to get to know a book of some value and now that it’s time to turn the page, for the last time, I feel sorry.
But the real question I’m asking myself is, have I managed to get in touch with him to the point of being friends? Yes and no.
I know many things about him, I don’t deny it, especially thanks to the tasks, I’ve observed him and even tried to interpret him in the first part of this last task.
What I missed was a constant relationship. The tasks that were distant from each other created a gap between me and the book.
Unlike what I thought at first, as I thought it would be interesting to spend more time on it.
What did he teach me? Not to underestimate literature and illustrations.