Seven Advantages of Tsundoku: Acquiring books and reading none

Seven Advantages of Tsundoku: Acquiring books and reading none

 

Tsundoku is a Japanese Word for acquiring books and not reading them but allowing them to pile up unused or unread. As a noun, it refers to the person – accumulator of books. The act itself may include buying or getting them as gift or perhaps stolen from a library or bookstore. Without dwelling into the origin or history of the word, I may say, it can be used satirically to mildly look down upon a person who has a big collection of never-read-books.  However earliest usage of the word was straight use of the word without any implied offence. The man in the photo on the left is not a Tsundoku. Not because he is reading but because it is a statute! Even though you do nothing – not even reading them – after buying the books, there are certain distinct advantages of this special art / act.

 

Let me enumerate a few of them:

 

• 1.      It helps the bookseller and publishers, anyway
• 2.      It helps furniture manufacturers like shelves and cabinets
• 3.      It makes you proud to show off a huge collection of ‘learned’ books
• 4.      It is talking point or a conversation starter with friends who visit you
• 5.      You have some book ready on hand in case you feel bored and want to read
• 6.      It develops a sort of guilt feeling needed for survival
• 7.      You can introduce yourself as a Tsundoku expert.

 

Whatever is said above does not apply to a librarian or a retail book seller though activities are similar but objectives are different. Are you a Tsundoku, capable of adding to the list of advantages?