Tsundoku (積ん読) is the phenomenon ofacquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in a home without reading them.[1][2][3][4] The term is also used to refer to unread books on abookshelf meant for reading later.
The term originated in theMeiji era (1868–1912) as Japanese slang.[4] It combines elements of the termstsunde-oku (積んでおく; "to pile things up ready for later and leave"), anddokusho (読書; "reading books").[citation needed] There are suggestions to use the word in the English language and include it in dictionaries like theCollins Dictionary.[4]
The American author and bibliophileA. Edward Newton commented on a similar state in 1921.[5]
In his 2007 bookThe Black Swan,Nassim Nicholas Taleb popularized the term "antilibrary", which was coined byUmberto Eco to characterize Jonathan Swift's description of a library inGulliver's Travels and has been compared withtsundoku.[6][7]
The dictionary definition of積ん読 at Wiktionary| Production | |
|---|---|
| Consumption | |
| By country | |
| Other | |
| Related | |
 | Thisaesthetics-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | This article related to the culture of Japan is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
