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Brotherhood 2.0: February 22nd: Where Do Books Go?

2007-02-22 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:05 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Advice & reviews

Prompted by a commenter's problem of too many books, Hank tours how he and Katherine store theirs (floating shelves, random stacks, the Book Exchange), then asks John and other authors how they feel about used bookstores, libraries and downloads that pay them nothing.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — MacBook speaker noise; a commenter's problem: John's readers own too many books

  • ★ Hank thinks that because John is a semi-famous author, a large share of their fan base are book readers, so many share the problem of too many books. (hedged) — 00:00:03 · John Green

00:00:35 — Tour of Hank and Katherine's book storage: shelves, floating book stacks, closet, random stacks, bed-stand stack

  • ★★ Answering a commenter's problem of too many books, Hank shows how he deals with a couple hundred: built-in shelving, wall-mounted 'floating' book stacks and random stacks around the house. (playful) — 00:00:35
  • ★ Hank's bed-stand stack of books he and Katherine are supposedly reading includes Philip Gourevitch's book on Rwanda, though Hank admits he hasn't read it much lately. (playful) — 00:01:53 · Katherine Green

00:02:19 — More stacks; where books go when there's no room: the Book Exchange and its credit system

  • ★★ When they run out of room, Hank and Katherine take books to the Book Exchange, which buys back books for what you paid in paperback credit; it has more shelf space and is far cheaper than Barnes & Noble. — 00:02:19 · Katherine Green, Barnes & Noble
  • ★ That day Hank and Katherine took a giant stack of books back to the Book Exchange and got $40 to spend on more books there. — 00:02:56 · Katherine Green

00:02:56 — Question for John and other authors: used bookstores, libraries, downloaded books and what buyers pay for; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank asks John, and invites other authors, how authors feel about used bookstores, libraries and downloaded books. — 00:02:56 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank admits downloading books and reading them online; he doesn't feel bad because their authors, like Alexandre Dumas, aren't trying to make a living. — 00:02:56
  • ★★★ Hank asks what buyers pay for when they buy a book, since in libraries, used bookstores and downloads people read an author's books without the author getting credit or money. — 00:03:41
  • ★★ Hank says it would be much easier to store all these books if they were on his hard drive rather than on his wall. (playful) — 00:03:41

Humor (significant)

  • Showing that embarrassing books get stored in the closet, Hank reacts to what the camera finds there. — 00:01:04

    “What? What Star Trek novels? I don't have any Star Trek novels.”

  • Touring the random stacks of books in random places around the house, Hank opens a drawer. — 00:01:53

    “There's my underwear drawer.”

  • Hank says he doesn't feel bad downloading books whose authors aren't trying to make a living, and names a long-dead novelist. — 00:02:56

    “Like Alexander Dumas, he's not saying, oh, I wish those people wouldn't download my books.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Book Exchange

Also: People: Agatha Christie · Alexandre Dumas · Katherine Green

Works: Star Trek (franchise) · The Complete Calvin and Hobbes · We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

Organizations: Barnes & Noble

Concepts: copyright

Products: MacBook

Only in the description or credits: Philip Gourevitch

Later videos replying to this one