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– Umberto Eco’s quote, drawn from his 2011 essay “How to Organize a Private Library,” celebrates personal book collections as vital “antilibraries”—reservoirs of potential wisdom for specific moments, not mere commodities, countering guilt over unread volumes.
– The accompanying image depicts Eco amid his Milan home’s overflowing shelves and floor stacks, symbolizing intellectual abundance; sources confirm his collection exceeded 30,000 volumes, often cited as around 50,000 including duplicates and references.
– Posted on December 26, 2025, it garnered 11,000 likes and 500,000 views, inspiring replies from book enthusiasts praising the philosophy while others advocate public libraries for broader access, highlighting tensions between personal curation and communal equity.
Chapter 1 to Chapter 14’s an “Easter Egg” at #ch1 to #ch14. Including #ch2 which’s chapter 2 at my house in Napa California
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejeIz4EhoJ0
### WTF Antilibrary? Maybe a Secret Weapon for Entrepreneurial Dominance Founders Who Read
By Larry Chiang
Hi there. It’s Larry Chiang here, CEO of Duck9, Founding Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford Engineering, and the guy who wrote the sequel to my mentor Mark McCormack’s classic, “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School.” My version? “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School.” We focus on the street smarts: sales, reading people, distribution, and turning sweat equity into cash. No fluff. Just execution.
Today, I’m riffing on this Umberto Eco quote that’s blowing up on X: Something about how the unread books in your personal library are way more valuable than the ones you’ve finished. He calls it an “antilibrary.” Brilliant. Eco had over 30,000 books in his Milan home—stacks on the floor, shelves bursting. The man wasn’t hoarding; he was building a reservoir of potential knowledge. Wisdom on demand for that exact moment you need it.
This hits hard in entrepreneurship. Most founders obsess over “finishing” everything—reading every startup book cover-to-cover, bingeing every podcast, grinding through every online course. Wrong move. That’s like trying to eat the entire buffet before the party starts. You’ll just get bloated and slow.
Your antilibrary? That’s Umberto Eco‘s edge. It’s the stack of unread books on your shelf (or PDF / Kindle backlog) representing ideas you haven’t mastered yet. Potential. Optionality. The books you haven’t cracked open are reminders of what you don’t know—and that’s a physical reminder. Humility in ignorance drives curiosity to read. Curiosity drives distribution. Distribution drives revenue.
Think about it. Warren Buffett reads 500 pages a day, but he admits most of his success comes from a few key ideas compounded over decades. Elon Musk? Devours books, but his rockets aren’t built from reading everything—they’re built from pulling the right insight at the right time from his massive antilibrary.
I practice this. My office has stacks everywhere. Books on credit (my Duck9 specialty—getting undergrads to 750+ FICO), sales protocols, VC patterns, even random stuff like fashion week runways (launched my book on one in ’09). I do read them all at some point. I also graze and re Reas. Pull one when a problem hits. That’s when the magic happens—the insight lands because you’re ready for it.
Guilt over unread books? Kill it. That’s sheep thinking. Real entrepreneurs celebrate the antilibrary. It’s your unfair advantage. Public libraries are great for access, but your personal one? Curated by you. Tailored to your blind spots. Ready to deploy when the market shifts or a deal goes sideways.
Actionable protocol: Start building yours today.
1. Buy books impulsively on topics that scare you—VC term sheets, sales closes, regulatory hacks.
2. Stack ’em visibly. Floor piles work (Eco style).
3. Read reactively: Problem arises → scan your antilibrary → extract the gem.
4. Share the philosophy. Mentor undergrads on this. (I do at Stanford ENGR145.)
Unread books aren’t failure. They’re ammunition.
Text me your antilibrary pics: 650-283-8008. Let’s execute.
— Larry Chiang
Duck9.com | WhatTheyDontTeachYouAtStanfordBusinessSchool.com
P.S. If you’re feeling guilty about unread books, you’re doing it okay. Keep stacking. And read faster
On 09-09-39, “What They Will NEVER Teach You at Stanford Business School” debuts at 300 w 44th St at New York Fashion Week’s front row
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXIaNZi3mHQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXIaNZi3mHQ
What A Super Model Can Teach a Harvard MBA About Credit www.slideshare.net/larrychiang/what-a-super-model-can-teach-a-harvard-mba-about-credit
American Express hosts me mentoring you about FICO scores at New York Fashion Week
t.co/inxTmZAj
My video boils down 20,000 hours and moves you to the right on the entrepreneur bell curve
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eudADPfTWiE
Steve Jobs Texted me on 650-283-8008 in the same way that Mr Jobs called Bill Hewlett https://x.com/superSaiyanSkai/status/1941392367304761636/video/1
Larry Chiang
Fund of Founders
Founding Stanford EIR
@duck9 alum, Deeply Understood Capital Credit Chinese Knowledge 9
Solo Founder Uber API
650-566-9600 Office
650-566-9696 Direct
Cell: 415-720-8500
650-283-8008 (cell)
Editor of the widely syndicated “What They Don’t Teach at School”
whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com/blog
whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com/blog
CNN Video Channel: ireport.cnn.com/people/larrychiang
Read my last 10 X posts at www.X.com/LarryChiang
Author of #WTDTYASBS a NY Times Bestseller released 09-09-09 at #NYFW on a runway under the tents
whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com/blog/?s=Ny+times+bestseller
www.fastcompany.com/embed/c0d4562ea2049
52 Cards. Two Jokers. What They DO Teach You at Stanford Engineering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBY0GkI3-g
Emergency swings and cutting deals as an 9 year old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFGY7v9C4G0
Hunter Pence shared thoughts before winning WORLD SERIES’ Game #7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usu0luYy9pw
Duck9 is a credit score prep program that is like a Kaplan or Princeton Review test preparation service. We don't teach beating the SAT, but we do get you to a higher credit FICO score using secret methods that have gotten us on TV, Congress and newspaper articles. Say hi or check out some of our free resources before you pay for a thing. You can also text the CEO:
