I got this from Tim Ferriss’s blog. It’s a great word. (I posted an essay about this recently: “Are You an Information Addict?”)
Ferriss says: Japanese has wonderfully short words that can replace paragraphs in English. Sundoku is one such example.
Here’s part of the Wikipedia entry:
sundoku (積ん読) is acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them. The term originated in the Meiji era (1868–1912) as Japanese slang. It combines elements of tsunde-oku (積んでおく, to pile things up ready for later and leave) and dokusho (読書, reading books). It is also used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf. As currently written, the word combines the characters for “pile up” (積) and the character for “read” (読).
