Daily Productive Sharing 102 - What is an Unread Library?

One helpful tip per day:)

(The English version follows)

#reading_tips

爱书的人经常会自嘲说:买书如山倒,读书如抽丝。今天的分享倒是为”买书如山倒”正名了:

  1. 读的书越多,所以越明白自己的无知,所以也就会找更多的书;
  2. 买的书越多越能提醒我们明白自己的无知;

当然作者也给出了具体建议帮助我们维护一个有用的未读书库:

  1. 读一本书的时候,注意作者的引用,可以把这些引用搜集起来;
  2. 和其他读过此书的朋友交流,问问他们还会读什么类似的书(所以非舱内欢迎大家在每周的 Book Club 后面留言告诉我们);
  3. 不要期待未读书库会变小,它只会随着我们的阅历变得越来越大。

欢迎转发,感谢分享:)

Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books.

Tsundoku (積ん読) is a beautiful Japanese word describing the habit of acquiring books but letting them pile up without reading them.

A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones.

Instead of a celebration of everything you know, an antilibrary is an ode to everything you want to explore.

An antilibrary is a reminder of everything we don’t know.
  1. Make notes of all relevant references.

    • When an author mentions another book, check the exact reference and make a note of it.

  2. Ask fellow readers for recommendations.

    • If you read a book that you particularly enjoyed and would like to learn more about the topic, simply ask people if they know of any similar books.

  3. Allow for serendipity.

    • While looking for sources and similar books are both effective ways to build an antilibrary, make sure you leave space for chance discoveries.

  4. Do not expect the proportion of unread books to decrease.

    • While there is no perfect proportion, the more you read, the more you will expand your perimeter of knowledge, and the more unread books will be added to your antilibrary.

  5. Improve your relationship with knowledge.

    • Even if you only have 3-5 books you haven’t read on your shelf, this is already a great step in expanding your intellectual horizon.

Subscribe now

Building an antilibrary: the power of unread books

如果你想更好地管理时间,并且减轻自己的压力,不妨试试 BRNR List

如果你也想成为更高效的人,欢迎加入我们的 TG group

也欢迎订阅我们的 TG channel

如果大家使用邮件订阅,请把 acacess@substack.com 添加为邮箱联系人,避免邮箱过滤的误伤,谢谢:)


Book lovers often laugh at themselves and say: buying books is like a mountain falling, reading is like pulling silk. Today's sharing helps we adjust this:

  1. the more books you read, the more you understand your limit, so you will look for more books.
  2. the more books we buy, the more we are reminded of our limit.

Of course the authors also give specific suggestions to help us maintain a useful library of unread books:.

  1. when reading a book, pay attention to the author's quotes, which can be collected to build the antilibrary;
  2. talk to other friends who have read the book and ask them what else they would read that is similar (so non-pods are welcome to leave comments at the back of the weekly Book Club telling us about it).
  3. don't expect the unread book library to decrease, it will only get bigger as we read more and more.
Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books.

Tsundoku (積ん読) is a beautiful Japanese word describing the habit of acquiring books but letting them pile up without reading them.

A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones.

Instead of a celebration of everything you know, an antilibrary is an ode to everything you want to explore.

An antilibrary is a reminder of everything we don’t know.
  1. Make notes of all relevant references.

    • When an author mentions another book, check the exact reference and make a note of it.

  2. Ask fellow readers for recommendations.

    • If you read a book that you particularly enjoyed and would like to learn more about the topic, simply ask people if they know of any similar books.

  3. Allow for serendipity.

    • While looking for sources and similar books are both effective ways to build an antilibrary, make sure you leave space for chance discoveries.

  4. Do not expect the proportion of unread books to decrease.

    • While there is no perfect proportion, the more you read, the more you will expand your perimeter of knowledge, and the more unread books will be added to your antilibrary.

  5. Improve your relationship with knowledge.

    • Even if you only have 3-5 books you haven’t read on your shelf, this is already a great step in expanding your intellectual horizon.

Subscribe now

Building an antilibrary: the power of unread books

Try our sustainable productivity tool BRNR List