ANTI-LIBRARY

In his book The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb writes about the anti-library. An anti-library is the books you own but haven't read. He bases this on a brilliant essay^[1] by Umberto Eco. A guest, observing at the huge library at Eco's house, asks if he has read all those books. In an amusing, sharp criticism of such questions and such guests, he mentions the contrast in thinking of the library as a storage for already read books and thinking of it as a working tool for research.

Taleb proceeds with the points that books you read are far less valuable than the unread ones. The more you know, larger the rows of unread books. That an anti-library makes you humble and more curious.
A part of growing up means accepting you won't be reading everything you want. That the more you read, more of the unread books will be piling up. The same goes with experiences. Experiences you know about but haven't had.

No matter what you go through or do, there will always be infinite things you could have gone through or done. The knowledge of how much you won't be able to do or experience in life is an indicator of your growth, and should be read as such, rather than as a looming sense of dread.

Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is growth.

[1] You can find the original essay in Eco's How To Travel With a Salmon and Other Essays. Or you can read the specific essay, 'How To Justify a Private Library', here.