Those who keep close to the masterpieces of life will never perish.

“I was completely changed by just one book.”

Books change human destiny.
One sentence can stop a life, one phrase can change its direction.
The power to change the world always begins with a great book.
Nietzsche said:
“A book should be an axe that breaks the frozen sea.” That one sentence pierced my heart.
I set out to find an axe.
And I quit my job.
As a researcher at Samsung Electronics, I abandoned worldly logic and read 10,000 books over three years.
That time was an inner revolution for me.
That's when I realized.
It is not reading a lot, but reading well that changes your life.
One masterpiece resonates more deeply than a hundred ordinary books.
Its sound awakens the soul and awakens sleeping thoughts.

“A great book can change a person and awaken an era.”

Books awaken people, and awakened people change the world.
So, books are revolution, and famous works are truth.
What you read is more important than how many books you read.
There are countless books in the world, but few of them shake the human soul.
Those books are not just about knowledge; they have the power to change lives.
I call such books 'masterpieces of life.'
One day, I, a researcher at Samsung Electronics, stopped everything.
And for three years I only read books.
I realized this in 10,000 books.

“It is not quantity that changes life, but depth.”

What creates that depth are the classics of life. In the "Kim Byeong-wan's Unbeatable Classics" segment of EBS FM's "Reading Classics," I explored the essence of humanity and the wisdom of life through a classic book each week.
In Dream of the Red Chamber, I saw human desire and vanity, in Peer Gynt, the adventure of becoming oneself, in The Interpretation of Dreams, the world of the unconscious, in The Brothers Karamazov, the boundary between human sin and salvation, in The Catcher in the Rye, the cry to preserve purity even amidst pretense and hypocrisy, in Zorba the Greek, the unfettered soul of freedom, in Candide, the wisdom of correcting oneself rather than changing the world, in Walden and Civil Disobedience, the awakening in solitude and freedom of conscience, and in The Chronicles of the Grand Historian, the human will to move beyond humiliation to greatness.


That 20-minute broadcast was another life lesson for me.
Reading famous works is not simply about ‘gaining knowledge.’
It is 'a matter of reliving life' and 'a matter of restructuring one's thoughts'.
Masterpieces awaken the inner self of humanity and provide direction in chaotic times.
This book is a compilation of the many masterpieces covered on EBS that particularly shook my life.
It contains stories that couldn't be fully conveyed on air, insights gained from connecting books, and profound questions posed to me by famous works.
Famous books change people.
That's why it never gets old no matter how many years pass.
When life gets shaky, classics can help you find your balance again.
When life falls apart, a classic book opens the way again.

One thing is clear: there is no such thing as a free lunch.
In other words, the fact is that writing a life-changing book is never easy.
It's difficult and hard to read.
This is a fact.
Reading was an act of deconstruction, and interpreting was an act of rebirth.
I died and was reborn in a book every week.
Goethe said in Faust:
“As long as man strives, he wanders.” That wandering is growth, and that growth is enlightenment.
The famous book is the light that justifies the wandering of the soul.
If you follow that light, it becomes a path, and if you walk that path, you will find yourself.


“Reading a book is not a simple act.
It is the courage to face one's ignorance head-on, and it is a rite of passage through which a human being is reborn.”

A famous book strips away the inner self of a human being and reveals the truth within.
Even if it's painful, you have to read it to the end.
Even if you don't understand, you have to hold on.
At the end, you meet a new you.
After all, a masterpiece is a mirror of the soul.
Through that mirror, a person finally sees himself.
This book is a collection of conversations with such famous authors.
Among the countless books, this one contains sentences that penetrate the essence of life, authors who have spoken the truth about humanity across time, and their breath captured in every word.
Books are the light that illuminates human life.
Only those who do not lose their light will not lose their way in the darkness.
So I am sure.
Those who keep close to the famous books of life will never perish.