Pravat Kumar Padhy
Tsundoku*
The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library
– Albert Einstein
During my college days, I used to make a point to have a quick glance at the literature section. Since then, it has always been my habit to visit the nearby library during my stay on official tours. I enquire with my colleagues or from the help desk of the hotels about the nearby location. On the weekend, I make a breezy walk holding my notebook and note down the new arrivals and golden lines of the poems of the olden days.
Recently I came across an interesting article. Nassim Nicholas Taleb,
The New York Times bestseller author, believes the unread
books in our library heighten us of all that we
don’t know. He adds “Indeed, the more you
know, the larger the rows of unread
books. Let us call this collection
of unread books
an antilibrary.”
I pile up a deep glance at my personal collections and feel there are so many layers of wisdom in between ‘sound and silence’.
in early twilight as if the stars descend on the jasmine tree how wonderful to add one more from mine
Author’s Notes:
1. Antilibrary: An unread pile of books that one intends to read.
2. Reference to the article on Tsundoku: https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/do-i-own-too-many-books/
About the Author
Pravat Kumar Padhy holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology, ISM Dhanbad. He is a 2022 panel judge for The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Awards and is on the editorial board of Under the Basho. Besides poetry, he devotes time to writing scientific papers on planetary geology and listening to classical songs.