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I used to be guilty of this during my pre-Kindle days. Whenever there's a book sale, I hoard books. But I don't end up completely reading some of them when they fail to pique my interest or engage me after reading a few chapters.
But gone are those days since 2010 when I shifted to e-books coz now I can buy any book any time. I could even download a free sample of the book before buying to make sure I like the writing style.
But guess what? There's a Japanese term for the tendency to collect books which are left unread. The term is "tsundoku" where "tsun" originates from the word "tsumu" which means to pile up and "doku" can be used as a verb which means "reading".
A professor from the University of London who studied the term shared that tsundoku was found in Japanese literature as early as 1879! 😮 The specific phrase used in the literature was "tsundoku sensei" referring to a teacher who has lots of books but doesn't read them.
So to all of us who once had this tendency or still have this tendency, we're not alone. There are other people like us from centuries ago who were guilty of tsundoku. 🙈 But the only difference is that today, we have more access to literature like never before, thus, it's easier for us to overcome this book hoarding madness.
If you want to take the first step in overcoming tsundoku, it's important to first accept and admit that you won't realistically read all those books in the coming months. If you haven't read them in years, what makes you think you'll be able to read them now? 😜 Some of these books could also be on subjects that are no longer relevant for you now or topics you may have outgrown or lost interest in. Thus, you may want to consider giving them away. A great organization where to donate them is Caritas Manila's Segunda Mana.
Instead of these unread books gathering dust on your shelves and occupying space, they would be of better use if they will be in the hands of someone who would read and learn from them. Besides, books would only serve their purpose if they are read. :)
