![積ん読@Dec 5,2010 (5233729309)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/%E7%A9%8D%E3%82%93%E8%AA%AD%40Dec_5%2C2010_%285233729309%29.jpg)
''Tsundoku'' ( ja, 積ん読) refers to the phenomenon of
acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them.
It is also used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a
bookshelf
A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture with horizontal shelves, often in a cabinet, used to store books or other printed materials. Bookcases are used in private homes, public and university libraries, offices, schools, and booksto ...
.
The term originated in the
Meiji era
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...
(1868–1912) as Japanese slang.
It combines elements of ''tsunde-oku'' (, to pile things up ready for later and leave) and ''dokusho'' (, reading books). As currently written, the word combines the
characters
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
for "pile up" () and the character for "read" (). There are suggestions to include the word in the English language and in dictionaries like the ''
Collins Dictionary
The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow.
The edition of the dictionary in 1979 with Patrick Hanks as editor and Laurence Urdang as editorial director, was ...
''.
The American author and bibliophile
A. Edward Newton
Alfred Edward Newton (1864–1940) was an American industrialist better known as an author and avid book collector. He is best known for his book ''Amenities of Book Collecting'' (1918) which sold over 25,000 copies. At the time of his death, ...
commented on a similar state in 1921.
See also
*
Bibliophilia
Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books.
Profile
The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...
*
Bibliomania
Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.
Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, which is the ( ...
References
Book collecting
Book terminology
Concepts in aesthetics
Concepts in epistemology
Japanese aesthetics
Japanese words and phrases
Words and phrases with no direct English translation
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