“I love irony. Because that’s what life is.”

The first-ever short writing collection by Professor Kim Youngmin, one of the wordsmiths of our time

A man who reads and writes for a living, a man who, when someone says, “Let’s go out for a drink,” replies, “Let’s eat Yoplait instead,” a man who reflects on his belly fat, in other words, “meditates on the irresponsible demilitarized zone that spans his upper and lower body,” a man who makes others burst out laughing with his highbrow wit that goes off the beaten path, a man who shifts esoteric issues into an easy matter, and a man who stares down at the core of essence.

His name is Kim Youngmin. He is known as the idol of the column world, a bestselling author loved by over 200,000 readers, and the wordsmith who wordsmiths admire. After winning the hearts of intellects with his runaway hit column, “Ask Back What Chuseok Is,” he has also challenged deep topics such as “What is studying?” and “What to do with the futility of life.” There must be a reason why a writer said Kim’s book made them think of the question, “What is a good question,” and a critic said that Kim’s writing demonstrates a true cold wit.

After years of making everything in the world an object of his study or thought, Kim now presents Light Confessions, a collection of short writings that compresses his reflections on the world around him as well as his own life. This book is a carefully selected collection of 365 short writings that “sprung out like water deers” from Kim over the course of 17 years, starting in 2007. Why do readers go wild over Kim Youngmin’s writings? If you are curious, we recommend that you read this book.

Kim Youngmin. Researcher of the Intellectual History, Professor of Political Science and Diplomacy, Seoul National University. Formerly a professor at Bryn Mawr University. His research interests include East Asian political thought history and comparative political thought history. He has published A History of Chinese Political Thought (2017), a broad summary of his research on Chinese political thought history. With this book as a template to expand the content and change the style for Korean readers, he published another book of the same title in Korea in 2021. He also published a collection of prose, Looking at the Futility of Life (2022).