Buying books does not mean you’re well read

Do you have a stack of unread books? The number of books and type may reveal some interesting personal insights into your level of intelligence, ambition, self-control, time management, and general outlook in life. There are many possible reasons why you have a stack of unread books. It is not uncommon — the Japanese have a specific term for a pile of purchased, but unread reading materials — tsundoku.

reading, intelligence and neuroscience

There are many good reasons to read, starting as children to adult. A 2014 study published in Child

Development suggests that stronger early reading skills may predict higher intelligence later — both verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Neuroscientists at Stanford suggests that the brain’s white matter tissue properties are highly correlated with reading proficiency in children.

The ambitious overachiever

If you are a voracious reader of books, you are in great company. Intelligent, highly successful adults tend to be avid readers. Many CEOs, world leaders, successful entrepreneurs, industry luminaries, and notable authors read far in excess of the average.

For example, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reads over four times as many books than the average

American adult — around 50 books each year.

Entrepreneur, angel investor, Wall Street Journal best-selling author, podcaster, and comedian James Altucher reads 10 hours per week on average since he was five-years old.

Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and winner of 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature, would read the latest published

books across many genres throughout his lifetime, including science-fiction, classic literature, history and non-fiction books. Elon Musk learned about rockets reading books. He had read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica at age nine and read science fiction for more than 10 hours a day as a child according to CNBC.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, estimates that he spends a majority of this day reading and thinking. According to an interview with Farnam Street, Buffett reads an estimated five to six hours daily.

The optimist

Are you an optimist? Perhaps you add to your stack of unread books with the best of intentions and positive belief that someday you will read it. When you look at your stack of unread books, you see future opportunity and benefits versus a failure of self-control at the time of purchase, or faulty personal time-management skills.

The book collector vs. hoarder

Bibliomania is an excessive fondness for collecting books; however, it is not a psychological disorder.

A study by researchers from the Australian National University and the University of Nevada, found that adolescent exposure to books, as measured by the size of home libraries, “confers enduring cognitive skills in literacy, numeracy, and technology,” and “the perception that social practice of print book consumption is passé is premature.”

Bibliophiles are people who collect or have a love of books. Bibliomania is an excessive fondness for collecting books; however, it is not a psychological disorder according to the American Psychiatric Association. As long as your book collecting doesn’t become compulsive hoarding and harm your health or social relations, enjoy collecting away.

How to reduce the stack

Regardless of your personality type or reasons for buying books, there are practical ways to reduce your tsundoku. In the post digital age, reading books

is a challenge, as there are many electronic devices and applications competing for your attention. Digital distraction make long reads, such as printed books, more difficult. Focus is key. If you are the type to read many books in parallel, focus your reading efforts on one book at a time instead. Prioritise your book stack in rank order and set a minimum number of minutes to read each day.

The amount of time is up to you, just make sure that it is a commitment that you can reasonably achieve every day. Start with 10 minutes each day and use a timer. You can allow yourself to read more than the daily minimum of minutes, just don’t go under. Then write your goals down on paper.

At the same time, slow down the rate of acquisition. Be more selective when purchasing. Don’t buy a new book until you read one of similar size.

Finally, if your stack of reading materials contains books that you know you will never get around to reading, release yourself from the possession entirely. If you aren’t a collector of books, consider donating or selling books that you haven’t read within a year, have already read, or have no intentions of reading within the year. Hopefully, the book that you pass along actually gets read by someone else, and doesn’t end up in another