September 6th: The Book Club Returns
2007-09-06 · review / recommendation · John · 3:20 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Science & nature (also: Economics, Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, community lore
John revives the Brotherhood 2.0 book club with Bill McKibben's Deep Economy, which leaves him troubled that he owns a car when everyone owning one would make human life impossible; he wants a life everyone could live. He names his own Paper Towns draft as the next book.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — Reaction to Hank's song: congratulations, his 'dark side', Britney's Toxic, and a Mortal Kombat correction (Scorpion vs Sub-Zero)
- ★ John congratulates Hank on another great song, though, as a commenter noted, he is a bit scared of 'the dark side of Hank Green'. (playful) — 00:00:00
- ★ John jokes that Hank's anger once taught him the older brother isn't necessarily the stronger, and says the song just toughens Hank's image, like Britney Spears releasing Toxic. (playful) — 00:00:00
- ★★ John corrects the song's lyric: Scorpion's fatality was taking off his mask and breathing fire to reduce the victim to bones; ripping off the spine was Sub-Zero's. (playful) — 00:00:00
00:00:39 — The Brotherhood 2.0 book club returns: John has finished Deep Economy; its argument that economic growth no longer gives us what we want
- ★★ Prompted by Hank's hatred of Hummers, John announces the Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club is back, like high-waisted jeans, the Indonesian economy and John Travolta's acting career. (playful) — 00:00:39
- ★★ John has just finished Deep Economy by Bill McKibben, the book Hank assigned him back around February, and really liked it. — 00:01:01 · Hank Green
- ★★★ John says Deep Economy argues that more is no longer equivalent to good and that economic growth, as we've constructed it, has stopped giving us what we want. — 00:01:01
- ★★★ John finds it hard to imagine a world that doesn't measure success by economic growth, but finds McKibben's argument compelling that doing so is screwing our future. — 00:01:01
00:01:30 — Cars if everyone owned them at the US rate; John's New York life vs owning a car in Indianapolis; wanting a life everyone could live
- ★★★ Citing McKibben, John says that if people in China owned cars at the American rate, the total number of cars in the world would immediately double. — 00:01:30 · China, United States
- ★★★ After calling Daniel, John says that if everyone in the world owned cars at the American rate, there would be about five times as many cars as now. (hedged) — 00:01:30 · Daniel Biss, United States
- ★★ John says the atmosphere couldn't handle that much carbon dioxide, and human life would in very short order become impossible. — 00:01:30 · climate change
- ★★★ In New York John had only what he thinks everyone should have: an apartment, good public transportation, affordable food, an independent bookstore; in Indianapolis he owns a car. (hedged) — 00:02:00 · New York City, Indianapolis
- ★★★ John doesn't want everyone to own a car, so it bugs him that he feels entitled to own one when everyone owning one would destroy the world. — 00:02:26
-
★★★ Reading Deep Economy, John kept thinking he wants to live a life everyone could live without the world ending; a life dependent on an underclass is 'pretty sick'. — 00:02:26
“I want to be living a life that everyone could live without the world ending.”
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★★ John thanks Hank for recommending Deep Economy and enjoyed it, though it lacked the love stories, car chases or metaphors about existential isolation of most books he likes. (playful) — 00:02:26 · Hank Green
00:02:56 — Next book club book: John's own Paper Towns, draft to Hank and Katherine in a couple of weeks; sign-off
- ★★★ John announces the next Brotherhood 2.0 book club book is his own Paper Towns, which Penguin won't publish until September of next year (2008). — 00:02:56 · Paper Towns, Penguin Books
- ★★ John will make a draft of Paper Towns available to Hank and Katherine in a couple of weeks; how, without textual communication, remains to be seen. — 00:02:56 · Paper Towns, Hank Green, Katherine Green, No textual communication
Threads in this video
- milestone · Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club: each brother reads a book the other assigns (2007) — Reviving the book club, John has finished Deep Economy by Bill McKibben, the book Hank assigned him, and reviews it. (00:01:01)
- first on record · Should economic growth be the measure of a society's success? — John finds it hard to imagine success not measured by economic growth, but calls McKibben's case that relying on it is screwing our future pretty compelling. (00:01:01)
- restate · Do individual green choices matter? — Since everyone owning a car would make life impossible, John is bothered that he feels entitled to own one and wants a life everyone could live. (00:02:26)
- announced · Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club: each brother reads a book the other assigns (2007) — John names his own Paper Towns as the next Brotherhood 2.0 book club book and says he will make a draft available to Hank and Katherine in a couple of weeks. (00:02:56)
- milestone · Paper Towns: writing, revision and publication (2007) — John will make a draft of Paper Towns available to Hank and Katherine in a couple of weeks; how, without textual communication, remains to be seen. (00:02:56)
Where the stories that moved here went next
- Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club: each brother reads a book the other assigns (2007) — last documented in 2007 (looked back on in 2009)
- Paper Towns: writing, revision and publication (2007) — completed; last: looked back, 2023-11-07
Mentioned
Central: Deep Economy · economic growth · Nerdfighter Book Club · Paper Towns
Also: People: Britney Spears · John Travolta · Katherine Green
Works: I'm Gonna Kill You · Mortal Kombat · Toxic
Organizations: Penguin Books
Rituals: No textual communication
Concepts: climate change
Places: China · Indiana · Indianapolis · Indonesia · New York City · United States
Characters: Scorpion · Sub-Zero
Products: Hummer
Only in the description or credits: Bill McKibben · Daniel Biss
Also centred on Deep Economy: March 22nd: Book Club and Business Cards
Also centred on Nerdfighter Book Club: Brotherhood 2.0: January 8, 2007 · Week 2 Condensed Highlight Reel · March 22nd: Book Club and Business Cards · Flinching in the Shower · The Physics of Book Clubs and Vidcon · Walking the Red Carpet: Thoughts from Los Angeles
Replies to
- corrects · September 5th: I'm Gonna Kill You — “I do, however, have one small criticism of your song, Hank.”
Later videos replying to this one
- 2007-09-07 · September 7th: Fatalities, Dances and Thanks (Hank) — answers — “all that important stuff that you were talking about in relation to Deep Economy” (00:03:10)
- 2007-09-10 · September 10th: Airports and Whitman (John) — corrects — “a lot of people concluded from one of my videos last week that I was finished with Paper Towns” (00:00:11)