In Japan, there is a word to describe people who purchase or pick up books without ever reading them. That word is “tsundoku” (積ん読) and believe it or not, the word goes back as far as 1879 as it described a teacher who had a lot of books but doesn’t read them.
“Doku” means to read but and the “Tsun” and it means “Pile up”. So, hence the word “Tsundoku”. Of course, there are other words such as “Bibliomania” which has been around since the 19th century.
You see, I admire those who can read books on their iPad or tablet. I do have an iPad, a Kindle Fire but I just can’t convince myself well enough to ditch actual books and go digital. I have been discussing going digital (here) and (here).
And for the most part, I knew that to break the cycle, something had to give…I tried selling them on eBay (people only wanted actual artbooks that were expensive, which I sold but the others, nada), then I tried donating them (but people wanted me to pay to ship to them), so I took all these books that I know I wouldn’t read again and into the trash bin it went (mostly all political or outdated books).
So, technically, I have less books than before but yet, I still have a lot of books. I read a lot of books from business, to art, to cooking, to music, to cinema and also travel.
My bookshelves actually have books in the back row and books in the front row for shelf…
I have gone through books and trashed them. Trying to figure out which ones I really want to read again and which ones I will probably never read again. And I tend to go back to a lot of my books as resources.
But BBC recently has an article on Tsundoku that I found fascinating.
But my tsundoku not only extends to just the books I have mentioned, it also extends to comic books and manga…
When I was young, my mother used to buy me comics that I could read in order to keep us away from trouble. No doubt to keep me preoccupied while she worked hard during the evening (my father was stationed in another country).
So, comic books were my form of entertainment.
I loved “Fantastic Four”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Daredevil”, “The Avengers”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Superman”, “Batman”, “Green Lantern”, “Green Arrow”, “Justice League of America” and I said when I was a child, I’m going to own all the comic books and read them all one day.
Of course, a lot of kids say a lot of unattainable things when they were younger. But there are some who actually make it happen…may it be becoming a millionaire, becoming a star athlete, becoming a business owner, becoming a pilot, etc.
I’ve always set short-term and long-term goals for myself, something I often try to aim for. But what about that vow I made when I was a child?
Well, it’s kind of impossible for me as I’m not going to pay a million bucks or six figures, nor five figures or even four figures for issues #1-10 of these old issues. But in terms of full collections, let’s say that I am close to achieving what I said I was going to do when I was a child.
But I am aware of my “Tsundoku” issue with books (and for some, that passion can exceed pass books and can also extend to films, video games, toys, cameras, clothes, etc.), but at least I read many of them.
Too bad I can’t say the same with the heavy backlog of games in my Steam collection.
