I’m an avid collector, and a lot of my collections are connecting to writing & reading. Scaling from the smallest to the spacious—fonts, words, posters, books, and series. We’re around the 600+ count mark of our home-library; it continues to grow.

Today, I’m sitting at my local co-working community, removing myself from my normal to consciously & purposefully read a new book.

It’s a gift from the company I’ve just started working with.

That fact excites me; hence today’s story.

Defining tsundoku

Humanity has developed a fantastic diversity of communication and language, with over 7,000 spoken languages around the world.

Fun fact: There are thousands of untranslatable words that don’t have any direct equivalents in other languages.

Sad fact: we’re losing that diversity rapidly, with 1,500 languages at risk of being extinct by 2100.

Fun fact: Japanese has many of my favorite untranslatables, regularly highlighted by Susie Dent and The Language Nerds:

• Shinrin-yoku: forest bathing; an eco-therapeutic practice of walking in nature

• Wabi-sabi: an appreciation for the beauty of imperfection & impermanence in nature;

• Ikigai: someone’s sense of purpose and reason for being.

They’re beautiful, right?

Then…what’s tsundoku?

Tsundoku is when you’ve amassed a large collection of books. The to-read pile grows far more rapidly than the have-read pile, but you have the intent to read them…eventually.

Ways of reading

When the CEO asked me how I preferred to read, I thought on the various scenarios and how I process information. There’s a myriad of ways to read books these days. For me, the format depends on the purpose of my reading the content.

• Audio books works great when I’m listening to something for fun, rest, relaxation, curiosity, etc. I don’t retain too much information if I solely listen to it.

• Digital books works okay. Reading long-form content on computer screens, tablets, or phones, are convenient but not preferred.

• Physical books are my jam. If I need to retain, reference, or research, the physicality of the book is essential. My memory access improves with visual stimuli, from even remembering that I have the book to associatively recalling its contents & lessons.

As my practice of reading has matured, becoming more purposeful & referential, I’ve enjoyed making marginalia—notes written in the page’s margins. My partner winces in pain everytime she sees me writing in a book; I’ve had to get over that feeling myself.

Marginalia is an exciting topic of book history that’s always fascinated me. I’ll write about nuns picking penises off a phallus tree another day.

Sharing the joy of reading

When I started in people management & leadership, I was given a few books:

• Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni;

• Lean Startup by Eric Reis; and

• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday.

For readers, it’s a wonderful gift, contextualizing a leader’s context. Where are their thoughts these days? Who are they learning from, and what are they taking away?

The second day of working this new company, there was a new book at my front door.

The book shelf is filled with a broad selection of books and paraphernalia: topics of design, tech, ethics, branding, web development, graphic novels, CD's, linotype machine poster, and a plushy elephant in the bottom right.

I can’t communicate how exciting it is to start something new, with a new book!

What makes Ali Abdaal’s Feel Good Productivity an exciting gift is the context & framing where the CEO wants to take the product.

Long story short…

…yay books!