Rob Horning explains why chess books are primarily symbolic decorative items:
The fact that they are unreadable - full of chess notation and illustrations and discussions far too abstract for a novice like me without a chessboard in front of me - forces me to resist the temptation of actual[ly] reading the book and makes the book into a pure signifying object, something that can signal my interest in chess without my being led into foolishly wasting time reading about it. The impossibility of my consuming them as books allows me to appreciate them as decorative objects that help illustrate my interior life for others.
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