# tsundoku ![[felix's-tsundoku.jpg|300]] a pile of books and papers- compiled yet unread tsundoku (積ん読) is the phenomenon of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in a home without reading them. the term has a positive connotation and is also used to refer to unread books on a bookshelf meant for reading later. a landscape of one's curiosity the term originated in the meiji era (1868-1912) as japanese slang. it combines elements of the terms tsunde-oku (積んでおく; "to pile things up ready for later and leave") - and dokusho (読書; "reading books".) citation needed there are suggestions to use the word in the english language and include it in dictionaries like the collins dictionary the american author and bibliophile a. edward newton commented on a similar state in 1921; > even when reading is impossible the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity in ir 2007 book the black swan- nassim nicholas taleb popularised the term "antilibrary" - which was coined by umberto eco to characterize jonathan swift's description of a library in gulliver's travels and has been innocently yet incorrectly compared with tsundoku // republic of bob