A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. — Taleb, The Black Swan

I have 800+ books on my shelves. I've read about 200.

The other 600 aren't failure — they're future-me's index of where to start when I need to research a topic. I know what entry points I have.

Different from "read later"#

Reading vs collecting criticizes the infinite read-later list. That's about information streams (push, blogs, news).

Physical books are different:

• You paid (high buy-in)
• They take physical space (visible reminder)
• You bought it for a specific reason (not algorithmic recommendation)
• Years later you "happen to" open one (serendipity)

Digital collections lack these properties. 2473 articles in Pocket and 600 unread books are not the same thing.

Practice#

I budget 200 yuan/month on books. Standard: I think future me will probably want this. No fads. No "because everyone is reading it."

Yearly cleanup: which sat unread but I still want? Keep. Which sat unread with zero pull? Sell.

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