UMBERTO ECO: WHY YOUR UNREAD BOOKS DEFINE YOU

Hello Hello there!

Let's talk about Tsundoku - a beautiful Japanese word which translates as:

'the art of buying more books than you can read'

Never thought that there is a word in Japanese that describes myself so precisely :D

This word has no negative connotation in Japan, which is a relief. Having piles of unread books in Japan doesn't seem to be a problem.

I've recently discovered Umberto Eco's concept of Anti-library, which says that your unread books are even more important than the read ones.

I hope you will enjoy this video and let me know what you think!

[VashikArmenikus]

Hello fellow 'Tsundoku-s' :)

You can follow me on Instagram for more frequent book recs! :)


Hope to see you there ❤

[feliperoa]

I can perfectly change the title to "why you unwatched videos define you?" Because of the amount of videos I have on watch later (including this one, which is kind of ironic)

[myguitardidyermom]

I just love having books. Filled shelves, on the floor stacked to the ceiling, on my nightstand, stuffed in any available nook in the room.
Always having an unread book at hand is also very pleasing.


Even if i never read them all, being surrounded by books is very aesthetically satisfying to me.

[hardheadjarhead]

I had a friend who looked at my large book collection and got exasperated and angry with me. He asked what was the use of buying books if you hadn’t read them. I had read many of them, but I was still working through the collection. And is most people who collect books now, you never get to the end.

I went on to learn that he hardly read it all. Just looking at my collection put a chip on his shoulder.

I recently visited my paternal cousins. They also have large book collections. It could be cultural, but I suspect there’s a certain genetic proclivity towards collecting books. Something genetic. The hoarding of words. The hoarding of knowledge and adventure.

[catherineguindon]

I definitly find myself in the Tsundoku character. It's such a joy to buy beautiful books in small and cosy librairies... my only problem is the lack of space in my apartment!

[melmoththewanderer]

I have a large collection of books (3-4, 000) comprising various topics including Art, History, Astronomy, Literature (including the great Umberto), Science Fiction among several other categories but I confess to having many unread books or books that I have partially read or otherwise consulted. I think that its not a matter so much of how many books one has read but rather what one retains from one's reading - two very different things. I think that I qualify for the term "tsundoku" as I had a specific reason for buying my books over many decades but never indiscriminately buying them just for the sake of buying them. Books are like old friends and you can read them again and again and find something new each time or at least refresh yourself with the parts you may have forgotten, and books are like milestones on one's journey through life. There are some books that one can read and reread any number of times and never grow tired of doing so. I find it so sad that books are being replaced by all that electronic stuff because there is a lot of pleasure in holding a book in one's hands rather than reading from a screen. I suppose that Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 resonates deeply within me for some of the reasons given above. Greeting to fellow book lovers from Sydney.

[ChristopheStrobbe]

Also worth mentioning is Samuel Johnson's opinion the advice that books, once started, should be read all the way through:
"This is surely a strange advice; you may as well resolve that whatever men you happen to get acquainted with, you are to keep them for life. A book may be good for nothing; or there may be only one thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?"
(Quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson.)

[Oraanu]

Unread books do not define who you are, but who you want to be.

[thatswhatisaid]

I love books. My mum did too. When she died, I kept quite a few of hers. Most of them. But I still haven't read them.
Most of my collection is fiction. I enjoy hearing about people with thousands of books in their collection, it makes me feel better about only having 4 bookcases full.

[JamesFerguson-ejcc]

A house without books is like a room without a window.

[WalterWild-uutd]

So very true. I hate to equate a "library" to the internet...but having a mass of information at your fingertips is so vital to a mind. I personally don't like the internet. You're grasping at other peoples concepts of what is important. A book is more likely to be a primary source than an entry on a "web." And I truly feel that you engage a different part of your brain when you read a book than you do when you scan a computer entry. I have unread books...but I know I have them. And when I open them it's like entering a new room in a solid house. A book on my shelves can't be edited by an outside source. It can't be deleted or erased by someone far away. Of course you have to protect your volumes. Thank Heaven thousand upon thousands of our ancestors felt the same and left the distilled knowledge for us to access, digest and discuss. And books don't need batteries.

[s.h.]

Ive found a solution to my tsundoku. Opened a small used bookstore. All of the books are mine to freely give or take. If i sell one, i generally don't even recall having it (because i have so many). If I want to read something but i dont think ill get to it soon, off to the store it goes. My home isnt piled high with books, and i make a good amount per month.

[menm_]

You said, "You cannot be an intellectually active person without realization of how ignorant you are." It sounds like Socratic wisdom, and reminds me of his "Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom" statement. Which then reminds me a bit of a theory in one of my favorite subjects (psychology): The Dunning-Kruger effect. Fascinating stuff, when you take the time to really think about it. I believe the world would be a far, FAR better place if that statement resonated with more people.

(As a VERY creepy side note, I went down a Reddit rabbit hole about commonplace books. One of the posts asked what others' favorite quote in their current book was. One person said theirs was "No piece of information is superior to any other. Power lies in having them all on file and then finding the connections. There are always connections; you have only to want to find them, " said by Umberto Eco in 'Foucault's Pendulum.' That resonated with me, so I decided that quote would be going on the first page of my new book. I looked up the book, and it sounded interesting, so I requested it from my library. Fast forward to today, when I was looking on YouTube for commonplace videos. This led me to your video on them. I found it interesting, so watched a couple more. I was increasingly impressed with the quality of not only the content, but the cinematography. It's like watching a brillant movie! Then I watched this one, and who do you mention but UMBERTO ECO 😱 <cue Twilight Zone music> Well, if that wasn't a sign to subscribe to your channel, I don't know what is! And yes, I will be putting your quote and the resulting train of thought tumble in my CP book 😃)

Thanks for making great videos. I can't wait to explore your channel!

[brentkozak]

The most comforting thing I've watched on youtube in a long time. Thank you.

[DutchGreyBeard]

Thank you so much for this ‘rest assured’ video! I always knew that my unread books had meaning, but you put memorable words to this feeling.

[maggyfrog]

i will never understand buying books indiscriminately. to me, great books are like friends or other-worlds. it can't just be an indiscriminate whim. if anything, it's the opposite for me. i could spend hours looking for specific books or writers or hidden gems. the collection has to be actually a curated one.

[neringariaukaite]

I am so enlightened by finding yours account and this interesting & calming video☀️✨. You do a pretty good job for us out here. The communations skill, the wise words, the cinematography - keep it together and go higher with it my friend! 🧡🌠

[matthieujoly]

Just love Mr Eco, and I just can agree more about the "reading addiction", and clearly happy to have this one.
I've piled (for now…) 700/800 books to read, which I've decided to get... SO to read.

Even the oldest one (at half of the 18th century), this is not a matter (not only ?) of collection, because I do love to imagine that persons had given their mind, soul, sweat to provide to us their knowledge, their dreams, their thoughts, who they are.

This is a way to share your individuality, one of the best, with music.

[cthoadmin]

You sir, are criminally undersubscribed! I think I'm falling in love with books again.

[rmjon]

This wonderful video speaks to me! I have over 3200 books in my house and the shelves are double-stacked, piled on top of each other...and it makes me happy. I'm pretty sure I could find any one of them, though. I have a system. Some could take a few minutes to locate...However, there are books I own that I've forgotten I've obtained, which does bother me sometimes.

Eco's thing: naive types who see his library and ask "have you read all these?" vs. the ones who know you have books for research, when that arrives: that seems like a key point to me. I do intend to read all my books, but I know time is limited before my death and there are many I won't get to. I do love grabbing one off the shelf and finding it transports me to another time. I'm not wealthy. Not even close! But I do feel "rich" with my books. To quote Dr. Johnson out of context, I'm a harmless drudge.