Speaking authoritatively on books you haven't read.

I am one of 9 people on the planet who have not read the book, "Heaven is for Real."

It's not on purpose. I'm not making a private stand against that book. I think I'd actually love it if I read it. When my wife quoted some of the stories in it to me, I almost started crying. My pastor Pete Wilson recently interviewed the author for a sermon series. People I respect love that book. I even like the color yellow as a cover option. It's bright and happy and yay! VW beetle convertible!

But despite having never read it, that has not prevented me from speaking authoritatively on it. I've recommended it to friends. I've bantered about it at length at dinner parties. I am a pseudo expert on a book I've never cracked.

And I am not alone. In fact, there are at least 4 other people that jump into this situation with me and will pretend they know all about a book they've never read:

1. The book owner.

The weird thing is, buying a book, owning a book, even displaying a book on your shelf does not transport the contents of said book magically into your head. Believe me, I wish it did, because I would be wicked smart right now. My shelves are littered with "Seriously, I am so going to read this brilliant book" books.

2. The guy who heard about it in a sermon.

Again, it's a 300 page book, and my pastor name dropped it in a sermon one Sunday last year using the amount of words that would fit on a fortune cookie, but I'm pretty sure I get it. The challenging thing is that hearing a pastor briefly mention a book he's read and then pretending you're an expert on it is like telling people you know how to play the guitar because you saw one on stage during worship.

3. The friend of a friend of a friend who read it.

I have a confession. When I use the phrase, "my friend," in a sentence, I am using that to describe every friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. There are at least four layers of separation between me and the person who actually did the action I am referring to. But in the context of a conversation, I tend to strip away those layers and just say, "Yeah, my friend went to high school with the guy who wrote The Shack. He says he's a pretty good dude."

4. The back cover reader.

This is probably the one I am most guilty of. I tend to think that there are two books in every book. The first one is printed inside the pages, and the second one is printed on the back cover. If I've read most of the back cover, I feel pretty good about speaking in detail on the heart of the book. Is the truth that sometimes the author doesn't even write the back cover? Sure, but should that stop me from discussing the story arc?

I wasn't going to write this post until we moved and I had to unpack all of our books. I was overwhelmed at the number of books I never read but still felt compelled to speak authoritatively on. I'm going to get better. I promise. From this moment on, instead of pretending I've read something I haven't, I'm just going to say, "I've read the meta narrative version," which will be my code for saying "I've read the title and most of the subtitle." That should count for something, right?

Question:

Have you ever spoken in detail about a book you've never read?