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Brotherhood 2.0: February 23, 2007: Books

2007-02-23 · John, Maureen Johnson · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · conversation qa

John shows his bookshelves and admits he can't get rid of books, then answers Hank's question with guest author Maureen Johnson: both favor used bookstores and libraries, and John thinks most writers would rather have an audience than riches.

What is said

00:00:00 — John's bookshelves around the house; no random stacks because bookshelves are cheap (cheaper than Norbit)

  • ★★ John shows his bookshelves around the house: one from college, one from that summer, one held up by books, some from his mother-in-law, and the one he films in front of. (playful) — 00:00:05
  • ★★ Unlike Hank, John's household has no random stacks of books because they buy a new bookshelf whenever they need one; he tells viewers to buy more bookshelves. (playful) — 00:00:28
  • ★ John says bookshelves cost about $20, less than taking your wife to see Eddie Murphy's film Norbit. (playful) — 00:00:28

00:00:57 — Hard to get rid of books (The Day Nobody Shared, a Golden Horde monograph); John brings in Maureen Johnson to answer Hank

  • ★★ John finds it very hard to get rid of books or limit how many he owns, even ones he will never reread, such as Devin DeWeese's 638-page monograph on Islamization in the Golden Horde. (playful) — 00:00:57
  • ★ John adds 'in your pants' to the title of the picture book The Day Nobody Shared. (joke) — 00:00:57 · in your pants
  • ★★ To answer Hank's questions about e-books, libraries and used bookstores, John brings in another author, Maureen Johnson, author of 'four, almost five' books. — 00:00:57 · Maureen Johnson, Hank Green

00:01:47 — Maureen Johnson on used bookstores and libraries; the $20-bill joke; agreement of the 'scientific sample'

  • ★★★ Maureen Johnson says she likes used bookstores, has no problem with them 'taking her money', and loves libraries: you can't not be pro-library. — 00:01:47 · Maureen Johnson
  • ★★ John says he likes used bookstores too. — 00:01:47
  • ★★ Maureen Johnson asks how people are supposed to afford to buy everything they want to read. — 00:01:47 · Maureen Johnson
  • ★★★ John concludes that writers, at least the 'extremely scientific sample' of himself and Maureen Johnson, are pretty much in favor of used bookstores and libraries. (hedged) — 00:01:47 · Maureen Johnson

00:02:27 — Writers would rather have an audience than riches; Maureen's Wii e-book idea; sign-off

  • ★★★ John thinks most writers would rather have an audience than great riches; if they wanted to be rich they would do something else. (hedged) — 00:02:27

Humor (significant)

  • Giving an example of a book he will never reread, John names a children's picture book. — 00:00:57 > «Consider, for example, The Day Nobody Shared. in your pants.»
  • John explains why he will never reread a 638-page monograph on Islamization in the Golden Horde. — 00:00:57 > «it is rare that I am asked by someone, how is it that the Uzbek people came to be Muslims?»
  • Asked whether authors mind not being paid when library readers borrow their books, Maureen Johnson reverses the problem. — 00:01:47 > «I put a $20 bill in the copy of all my books, and so the first person who reads it gets the $20.»
  • After saying writers prefer an audience to riches, John names the get-rich alternative, Hank's line of work. — 00:02:27 > «If we wanted to be rich, we'd be doing something else, like blogging about environmental technology.»

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