Fake Smart People Show Off Fake Book Collections

It’s no surprise that bookcases at public locations like hotel lobbies are for decoration only. But what about bookcases behind famous broadcasters on television? Or a co-worker on an internet meeting?

I don’t know if a full bookcase in the background makes a famous person or a co-worker in a meeting appear more intelligent. I’m partial to the bare bland wall. People with bare bland walls behind them are confident enough to not care about how others think about them. Or they’re paranoid about being conked on the head from behind. Nobody can sneak up behind you with a bare bland wall background.

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In a place like Washington—small, interconnected, erudite, gossipy—being well-read can create certain advantages. So, too, can seeming well-read. The “Washington bookshelf” is almost a phenomenon in itself, whether in a hotel library, at a think tank office or on the walls behind the cocktail bar at a Georgetown house.

And, as with nearly any other demand of busy people and organizations, it can be conjured up wholesale, for a fee.

And then later in the article…

In 2020, of course, everything changed for Books by the Foot around the same time everything changed for everyone else… When workplaces went remote and suddenly Zoom allowed co-workers new glimpses into one another’s homes, what New York Times writer Amanda Hess dubbed the “credibility bookcase” became the hot-ticket item. (“For a certain class of people, the home must function not only as a pandemic hunkering nest but also be optimized for presentation to the outside world,” she wrote.) And while Roberts makes an effort not to infer too much about his clients or ask too many questions about their intent, he did notice a very telling micro-trendin orders he was getting from all across the United States.

Read more at Washington’s Secret to the Perfect Zoom Bookshelf? Buy It Wholesale.

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So that’s what it’s called, the “credibility bookcase.” I had a credibility bookcase back in the 1990s and didn’t even know it. If only I had thought of a way to profit from this idea back then. Some people might have read this article and gotten mad at co-workers or famous people for pretending to be readers. I read this article and got mad that I didn’t think of how to profit from this scam first!

I even mentioned the credibility bookcase in a blog serial romantic comedy that I wrote a few years ago, only I didn’t know it was called a credibility bookcase. Here is a quick excerpt from my blog serial romantic comedy “The Literary Girlfriend”:

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When we reached the living room, Danielle stopped and faced me.  “Have you read all of these?” she asked, pointing to my bookshelf.

“Yes, of course,” I said.  I had read a few of the books completely, but I had at least glanced through all of them.  I had read enough about each book to hold a quick conversation before I’d need to change the subject.

“You’ve read Moby Dick?” she said.

“Yes.  I didn’t enjoy it, but I read it.”

“You’ve read…”   She squinted at a large volume at the top of the shelf.   “You’ve read The Brothers K…   The Brothers K….”

“I don’t know how to pronounce it either,” I said.  “When I get to those long Russian names, I just change them to Smith and Jones in my head.”

“I like books,” Danielle said.  “But I didn’t go to school… college.”

For more about the credibility bookcase and the romance that followed, read The Literary Girlfriend: The End of the Story?.

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The difference between me and most credibility bookcase owners is that I had read a little bit from each book, just enough to make me dangerous (or sound fake smart).

But enough about me! What do you think? Does having a credibility bookcase make you look smarter? Have you ever looked at the books on somebody else’s credibility bookcase? Do you know how to pronounce The Brothers K…?