Unless you’re a bibliophile, many of us probably have a row of books on our shelves we’ve never read. Chances are you stare at it every time you clean your house and wonder if you’ll ever get to them. But it turns out, even if you don’t read all of them in the next 10 years, you should still keep them.
Behold, the ‘antilibrary’. Let us explain: Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a book called The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, and in it he explores Italian writer, Umberto Eco’s, unique take on books. Eco dubbed the collection of books everyone owns, but hasn’t read, ‘antilibraries,’ and says they actually keep people intellectually curious and humble.
Tabel describes it this way in his book: “A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there.”
He also goes on to say that it’s inevitable that you’ll accumulate more books (and knowledge) as you get older. But that’s not a bad thing and shouldn’t be a cause for stress. Having a row of books you haven’t read will remind you that there is still much that you know know (yet). So instead of viewing it as a failure, view it as a source of inspiration and future learning.
And the next time someone asks why you haven’t read a certain book yet, tell them it’s an important part of your ‘antilibrary.’
