All people have an innate drive to learn, a curiosity that drives them to new revelations. Olivier Szczepaniak, founder of Box from Babel, is a believer that everyone has this learn-drive, as well as their own personal brand of genius.
“I think it just is like a free process of you following, essentially, this learn drive, this innate curiosity,” Szczepaniak said. “[Uncertainty reduction] is one of the fundamental things that humans like.”
Szczepaniak launched Box from Babel on May 29, 2024. The service creates mystery packages of books from the inventory of the now-closed Highway Bookshop.
“I was passing it on my way, on the way to my uncle’s real estate investment property…it immediately caught my eye,” he said.
The Highway Bookshop was a staple of Northern Ontario, established in 1957 by Douglas Pollard who began the business first as a printing press and then as a bookstore. Over the years, the business became a cultural landmark.
As a press, they printed nearly 500 titles by local authors and primarily on topics of local interest.
In 2009, Pollard passed and his wife, Lois Pollard, sold the store shortly after to owners that did not seek to reopen the store itself. They placed all the books in shipping containers, where they stayed for over ten years.
Szczepaniak made his first expedition into the containers in February 2023 and then in May 2024. According to the Box from Babel website, they continue Pollard’s vision.
The Community Edition received a mystery package which contained The Scientist as Rebel by Freeman Dyson, Going for Baroque: Cultural Transformations from 1550–1660 by Francisco Gaurdiani and What’s so Funny? : Wit and Humor in American Children’s Literature by Michael Cart.
Szczepaniak said that although the packages seem random, the books are curated.
“Choosing the books is a numinous process. I select them based on their condition, binding quality, and whether they are interesting or notable editions,” he said.
Box from Babel continues Pollard’s vision of a library for the curious, where each book held the potential for discoveries.
“Our mission is to take Pollard’s original vision and update it for a new era, where books can once again be tools of discovery rather than just commodities,” the website states.
After high school, Szczepaniak went on to work in various odd roles. He said he has had a fondness for books since he was young.
“I’ve always been sort of a book sell bookseller aspirant, I’d say. And I mean, I’ve always just liked books, even from, you know, kind of a very, very early age,” he said.
Along with his belief in the learn-drive, Szczepaniak said that everyone has their own genius to which they have an inner imperative. This imperative is a pull that comes from within to cultivate their own abilities.
“I like that for everybody—everybody has some genius,” he said. “I’d like to actually see people commit to it more…”
Box from Babel also hosts Reading Raves, the third iteration of which took place on Jan. 30, 2025. These raves include music, light refreshments and a space for people to read or socialize together. Szczepaniak also sets up an exhibit of photos and books for attendees to peruse.
“[It is] a literary salon with like an underground rave,” he said. “[The exhibit is] basically, me setting up a small exhibition of not only books that I’ve actually collected from this highway bookstore, but photos of the whole bookstore itself, and they’re arranged as case files, so people can begin to think about what this place might have been.”
While it is not an original idea, the raves are fairly successful, with nearly 40 attendees at the first two and over 100 at the last one. Eventually, Szczepaniak hopes to make the raves regular.
“[M]y original goal was just to increase the velocity of words read. And on the very real level, I did that,” he said. “So, I’m happy with that.”
The “Babel” in the title refers not to the biblical tower, but to the Library of Babel from the short story by Jorge Luis Borges. This library holds all the potential combinations of all letters. While mostly meaningless, the books also contain all potential ideas, truths and wisdoms.
Szczepaniak said readers need to believe that they will find something meaningful in the vast expanse of books.
“The truth may come,” he said.
“And I think, to be a lover of books and a reader of books, is that you have to believe every single day, is that something good will come, something good is going to be in these books,” Szczepaniak said.
For more information, visit boxfrombabel.com.
Leave a Reply