The release of a partial list of books, documents, press clippings and other materials the U.S. government says were seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan does make for some intriguing rummaging. We imagine Bin Laden cooped up in his hideaway devouring reports on 9 / 11, trying to figure out his nemesis America through stacks of mainstream and fringe books and articles, boning up on France, firing off messages to Al-Qaida lieutenants or penning the occasional love note to a wife. It makes for rich speculation, but the question at the end is whether this trove, obtained when Navy SEALs raided Bin Laden’s hideout and killed him four years ago, tells us anything useful about the architect of the great crime of 9 /11.

One problem is that the material declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is only part of the cache; the rest is still secret. Other problems are the timing of the release and the choice of what was made public. Finally, it is not clear whether the books and articles were selected or sought by Bin Laden or were just materials brought to him by visitors and lieutenants. That makes a difference: The books found in Hitler’s bunker after he shot himself were those he chose to bring there, so can speak to his state of mind at the end.

Given those caveats, “Bin Laden’s Bookshelf,” as the intelligence office dubbed the cache, is not particularly surprising for a reasonably well-educated and narcissistic leader of a terrorist organization studying his enemy and trying to maintain control of an increasingly decentralized network.

As with the banality of all evil, there is certain to be a humdrum quality to the daily reading and communications of a man who requires practical information and managerial skills, even if it is in pursuit of a fanatical idea through mass murder. What is interesting is not that Bin Laden read “The 9 /11 Commission Report” but whether he felt the least bit of remorse or only malicious pride. That we can only surmise.

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE NEW YORK TIMES