Too Many Books? We cannot not surround ourselves with book

“Now, surrounded by so many books, we lead indulgent and shameful lives. So what is the use of learning?”

This is the heartfelt cry of Antonio De Ferrariis, known as Galateo (1448-1517), a true Renaissance man, who died 500 years ago last month and whose memory has recently been celebrated in his native Salento, the beautiful and fascinating heel of Italy. 

His outcry about the pointlessness of learning dates from the very same year (1513) as Machiavelli’s Prince and the famous letter in which Machiavelli (1469-1527) describes his greatest pleasure as “seeking nourishment” in “the ancient courts of ancient men”, or in other words as “talking with books”, as Petrarch (1304-74), the so-called father of the Renaissance, had put it many years before. 

read more here @ Irish Times

review of ‘Galateo,’ by Giovanni Della Casa @ New York Times