Your ReadingDeficit is the set of books that you currently are making an intention to complete. You must have already acquired the books and preferably have begun reading them. 

While it may seem like a good idea to keep your ReadingDeficit low, I can never seem to accomplish this. Instead, my focus remains split amongst a plethora of competing books. (Indeed, now I've made my deficit public, see http://usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?SunirsReadingDeficit)

-- SunirShah

Contrast ReadingDeficit with ReadingDebt.
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I think I would have called this something like ReadingLayaway because these are books I've made a "down payment" on but won't "own" until I finish reading them.

To me, ReadingDeficit would be the reading I am not doing because the RealWorld is taking up too much of my time.

-- JeffShelby
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I got my ReadingDeficit too low on occasion, then when I went for a book, there weren't any I hadn't read. Must keep a buffer of books to grab for on that rainy day! I now manage unread books as I do cash in the bank -> there needs to be a certain minimum available for daily and weekend use! -- Alistair

''If you don't have any books that are worth reading again, something's wrong...''
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Went into the spare room the other day to pick a couple of books to take on a trip. What with a new job, new baby, new city, I haven't read much the last couple years; scanning the shelves, I felt like I was in a used bookstore. Wow! They have all the stuff I like! I could have spent hours. -- Peter

	 :	''"I don't buy everything I read; I haven't even read everything I've bought."'' - BarenakedLadies

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I usually buy 3 to 6 books, read them one by one over the next few days or weeks as the case may be, then go back to the bookstore when I'm out of books. (In between buying sprees, I reread favorites...) ''(Later). That was then; this is now. Now, I shop at Amazon and keep my ReadingDeficit at 3 to 6. I love technology.'' -- LaurentBossavit

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My ReadingDeficit is currently over 40 books! This is mostly because I have bought cheap $1 and $2 used ScienceFiction paperbacks at Cons. -- sg

''$1 or $2 isn't cheap at a con. 20 cents is cheap at a con. It's a great feeling to fill a shelf with a five dollar bill.''

See FreeAndNearlyFreeLiterature.

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Hmm, maybe I'm cheap, but I own maybe one book (though I got a shelf full). My reading pattern would bankrupt me in no time... So I tour my friends and finish off their collections one at a time.

''Does this make my ReadingDeficit infinite?''
-- SvenNeumann

I HaveThisAntiPattern.  I called it TooMuchToRead, before I found this page and its relative.  -- MatthewAstley

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Can be caused by BookThatNeverEnds