The idea of an antilibrary, coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, has become the hottest new personal blog appendage. Taking over what used to be the “Currently Reading” list is now the “Books I Haven’t Read” list.
“Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
It’s a great example of frame-switching. The guilt and frustration you may have felt for buying more books than you can read can now be channeled into bolstering your curiosity instead of dampening it.
However, just because you now rightly consider unread books valuable does not mean they should never be read.
One of the most enjoyable ways I have found to tackle the Wall of Unread (which will never be complete and is part of the fun) is daily random passage selection.
Every morning, I pick a random book off the shelf and select a chapter or passage that piques my interest.
I read at other times for other reasons during the day, but this gives me a chance to playfully explore what I have already vetted as something of interest without the added anxiety of being a sequentialist and completionist
It allows me to dive deeply into a small part without worrying about the bigger contextual picture (I can do that later or build it up over time)—magnifying my curiosity and inspiration for the remainder of the day.