19 February 2026 marked ten years since Umberto Eco’s death.

Eco owned around thirty thousand books.

When asked why, he questioned measuring a library by what had been read.

The value of a personal library, he suggested, lies as much in the unread as in the read.

Books as potential.
Books as reserve.
Books waiting for the right moment.

It’s tempting to treat books like consumer goods.

Buy one.
Read it.
Move on.

But that misses something essential.

A library is not an archive of what you know.
It is a map of what you don’t.

Some books sit for years before they find you.

Others arrive exactly when needed.