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“Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

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11–20 of 87 posts

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#11
post #4
post #2

Wonder what's the word for games bought but never played. ;)

Or generically how about a word to describe a customer that buys your stuff, but never opens it? I have been thinking of kickstarting a board game where there will be 500 boxes, 499 contain blank stuff, 1 contains the stuff with the printing materials etc. As long as you leave your copy shrink wrapped yours might be the really valuable one.

Schrödinger's Board Game?

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#12
post #5

So .. enlighten me, Japanese-speakers .. would the word for "Apps I bought from the App Store but never use" be something like .. "Tsunappu" .. or, something? Because I have, literally, hundreds of those ..

Yeah, it would probably "Tsumiappuri" (積みアップリ).

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#13
post #2

Wonder what's the word for games bought but never played. ;)

It's called "Tsumige" (積みゲー).

It shares the same "Tsun" as Tsundoku in the form of "Tsumi" (積む/積み, stacking up) and means games that keep stacking up and never been played or finished.

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#14
post #10

once again im impressed by the expressiveness of the japanese language:) Since i have almost all my books at my kindle at least i dont have to dust them regulary:D

English also has words for this concept - "reading backlog" and "unread books piling up".

The Japanese term 'tsundoku' is mainly notable because it's a pun portmanteau of 'tsunde oku' (piling up) and 'doku' (reading).

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#15
post #8

I wish my "Tsundoku" could have been an investment that could generate some passive income. But alas my copy of "Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic in 24 hours" circa 1995 (or so), is still untouched. Just never got the necessary 24 hours to learn it. Maybe I can sell it by the tonnage sometime. I thought that going the Kindle and digital media route would have saved me from adding to my "Tsundoku", but I am back in co…

Yeah, I've noticed that ever since I've got Kindle my collection increased enormously, and there's still a stack of around 300 ebooks I haven't found time to read.

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#17
Since I am assuming readers will look at this page, can someone explain to me how to hold a book without pain? I didn't read too much as a kid and I wonder if I just didn't build up the right muscles, but now, I like to read big books, but my forearm and fingers start to hurt from holding it. I have looked up different ways to hold books, but I haven't found anything yet that I like.

This is what I like the ipad for. I don't like the idea of the ipad, but reading in the dark and pain free in hard to beat.

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#18

Since I am assuming readers will look at this page, can someone explain to me how to hold a book without pain? I didn't read too much as a kid and I wonder if I just didn't build up the right muscles, but now, I like to read big books, but my forearm and fingers start to hurt from holding it. I have looked up different ways to hold books, but I haven't found anything yet that I like. This is what I like the ipad for.…

Yes, my answer would have been "kindle", but iPad works as well.

Re: “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves

#20

Since I am assuming readers will look at this page, can someone explain to me how to hold a book without pain? I didn't read too much as a kid and I wonder if I just didn't build up the right muscles, but now, I like to read big books, but my forearm and fingers start to hurt from holding it. I have looked up different ways to hold books, but I haven't found anything yet that I like. This is what I like the ipad for.…

If you love reading books (not tech references) then I would also advice to get a kindle E-Reader (paperwhite).
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