You’ve actually created your own “antilibrary” and according to Apartment Therapy, it’s the new trend we should all embrace.
An antilibrary is a collection of books we own but have never read, and it can keep us “intellectually curious and humble.”
The term ‘antilibrary’ was first coined by scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and he argues that a collection of unread books has more value than shelves of read books.
In The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Taleb states that:
“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. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.”
So don’t feel frustrated by that towering pile of books on your bedside table. It represents curiosity, potential learning and inspiration. And that’s a good thing!
This article originally appeared on Better Homes and Gardens.
