How big is that pile of books next to your bed?
Tsundoku is a Japanese word for buying books and letting them pile up unread. It’s a familiar habit to book lovers everywhere — that growing stack of books you intend to read but haven’t yet. In this episode of Sketchplanations The Podcast, we explore why we buy books we don’t read, why unread books don’t always feel like a bad thing, and what this habit says about curiosity, identity, and our relationship with reading.
In this episode we embrace Tsundoku and our conversation ranges from buying too many books to the joy and guilt of collecting unread books, and how tsundoku can extend to audiobooks, hobbies, and other unread things. If you’ve ever wondered why you buy books faster than you can read them — or felt conflicted about your own unread pile — this episode is for you.
Links to items (mainly books) that we discussed:
Summary:
00:00 Introduction to Tsundoku: The Act of Collecting Unread Books
02:52 Personal Stories and Reflections on Tsundoku
05:20 The Broader Implications of Tsundoku
07:49 Books as Gifts and Their Value
10:03 The Joy and Guilt of Collecting Books
17:14 Final Thoughts and Reflections
19:34 Conclusion and Farewell
All music on this podcast series is by the very talented Franc Cinelli
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