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Brotherhood 2.0: February 23, 2007: Books

2007-02-23 · letter vlog · John, Maureen Johnson · 3:06 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: guest or collab, community lore

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

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

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.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Maureen Johnson

Also: EcoGeek · Eddie Murphy · in your pants · Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde · Narnia · Norbit · The Day Nobody Shared · Wii

Only in the description or credits: Devin DeWeese

Replies to

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