The Japanese word tsundoku; the act of letting books pile up without reading them.
Yes Me! Guilty!
I was at the Business Book Awards yesterday, luckily enough to be highly commended with my book (Why losing your job…).
Over 300 books were being celebrated! You can imagine my mind was going wild, I wanted to buy them all, interview the author, find out more about the ideas, the inspiration!
But I resisted. I’ve put myself on rations. Only one new book a month.
Because I am indeed surrounded by piles of books.
Some are half read, for some reason I didnt have energy to keep going. But I cant just get rid of them, I feel like they might get another go at some point.
Some have been read, but I loved them, so again, cant let go, I might want to read them again.
Some have never been opened. I don’t know why. I might need to think about that.
Reading has influenced my work, maybe even life as a whole.
The first book I remember influencing me was Sir John Harvey Jones Troubleshooter - I really want t be Sir John Harvey Jones. The next book was Feel the Fear by Sue Jeffers. I really embraced that book in my early career! The final book I remember was Anita Roddick’s book about creating The Body Shop, I really wanted to create like she did.
Books can change your life.
Piles of books I’m not so sure.
Do you have a book that changed your life?
Do you still have a copy?
(And are you experiencing a bit of tsundoku?)
eleanor
Not sure about any one book changing my life. I do have piles of books though, read and unread. I seem to live in hope that by just possessing the nonfiction books that the wisdom they impart will pass to me by osmosis!
Congratulations on being highly commended