#Tsundoku

[thisisnotmyhomeplanet]

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Tom Gauld for The Guardian's Autumn Reading Special.

[moznohayanie]

私も積読死ぬほどあるけど、ポちゃんと全く同じ気持ちで書店に通ってる。 仕入れです。

I have many books I have bought and not read.

I'm making my own bookstore.

now I'm here to stock them!

so I don't have to read them yet!

[brightfametexan]

@carnalreincarnated @misssquirrel

[lost-carcosa]

[holespoles]

What is Tsundoku?

Just buying books and piling them up can be effective! (1) Buy books (2) Stack books (3) Brain cells are activated by receiving radio waves from piled books that cannot be explained by modern science!

Tsundoku" or "piled reading " is a term used to describe the state in which books you have acquired are left piled up at home without being read. There are similar words such asbibliophilia andbibliomania, but there is no word other than Japanese for the same concept or habit, and it became popular in the UK and other countries in the 2010s as "tsundoku. In "Words of the World That Cannot Be Translated" by Ella Frances Sanders, "tsundoku" is introduced as a word that does not express nuance well in many languages, along with " kurisarehiki " and " wabisabi".

[randomaccessmike]

[weepingfoxfury]

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday ... another Tuesday in Tuesdayville ...

The weather Gods haven't budged, so I'm sitting with my back to the kitchen window dreaming of sunnier landscapes. This was all going well until a small bird decided to crash into the window in pursuit of a spidery snack. The bird is fine, my lap a little wet from the hot drink I was holding.

Mr B, as you can plainly see, has left the confines of the lounge and is balancing precariously on the gate having successfully negotiated all manner of obstacles. Biggest Dog hides in the background and pretends nothing is happening.

I look into my Harryhausen style hallway and bring to mind the ship attempting to navigate the crashing rocks. One false move Mr B, and the piles of tsundoku will tumble toward you just as the polystyrene rocks did the valiant crew. Save yourself! Grab onto a ... (ahem) ... belay that order ... grabbing onto anything may just bring further chaos. :-)

Ach well, time to go, the shiny metropolis etc etc etc ...

[cardiac-agreste]

Taleb laid out the concept of the antilibrary in his best-selling bookThe Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. He starts with a discussion of the prolific author and scholar Umberto Eco, whose personal library housed a staggering 30,000 books.

When Eco hosted visitors, many would marvel at the size of his library and assumed it represented the host’s knowledge — which, make no mistake, was expansive. But a few savvy visitors realized the truth: Eco’s library wasn’t voluminous because he had read so much; it was voluminous because he desired to read so much more.

My friends, be proud of your antilibrary.

And for those who are curious, the referenced "tsundoku" is 積読, which is a mashup of the word for "to pile up" (as in how dust does on the blade of a disused fan, or snow on a mountainside) and 読 (book). Maybe from 読書 which is a fancy way of saying "to read" (and then dropping the second kanji)?

(It's actually kind of a pun? "tsunde oku" is "to pile up" with an auxiliary verb that connotes something being done "for the time being." If you drop the "e" (common in casual speech) you get "tsundoku" and swap out that "doku" for the one that means "book" and it remains "tsundoku" but in Japanese has changed from 積んどく to 積ん読.)

[tigermousse]

me, buying more books, while I haven't read all I have at home

[afternoonscrapbooking]

In Japanese, "tsundoku" means collecting books and letting them pile up, not for neglect, but for the joy of knowing they're there, full of untold stories.

[owenbroadcast]

[lost-carcosa]

[aurelyah]

Tsundoku is the Japanese word to describe buying books and letting them pile up unread on shelves, floors, and nightstands.

[kimseokjin27412]

Most people have emotional support pets or blankets, I have emotional support books...just carrying them around makes me feel better.

[blinddogfanfic]