Sorting out books (Marie Kondo)

How can I sort out my books effectively? This page provides a step-by-step guide to decluttering your book collection using Marie Kondo’s method.

This an excerpt from a summary of Marie Kondo's book 'the life-changing magic of tidying up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing.' You can access the full book summary via the link icon.

For books, too, you start by collecting them all and spreading them over the floor. When there are too many, you may go through them, one category at a time:

  1. fiction books,
  2. non-fiction books,
  3. practical books (e.g. cooking),
  4. visual books (photograph collections, etc.), and
  5. magazines.

Take each item in your hand, one by one. Keep it if it sparks joy, discard it when it does not. Only touch them, though. Do not start reading them.

The same way as with clothing, ask yourself whether you need to keep the books you have already read. Has it not already fulfilled its function? Furthermore, if there is a book you may ‘read sometime,’ you can safely discard them without second thought.

Like clothes that did not quite suit you, books you have read only halfway through have served their purpose. You have read enough of them to realise that it was not for you after all.

For books, timing is everything. The moment you first encounter a particular book is the best time to read it. Do not miss that moment and keep your collection small.

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