Exactly Like the Human Sternum

2016-12-06 · review / recommendation · John · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Global development) · mode: Advice & reviews · tags: calendar ritual, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, self promotion, community lore

In a video structured like the human sternum, John gives P4A 2016 logistics (videos on Friday, the Indiegogo and its perks), announces matching that makes every first-half dollar worth $4 for Save the Children and Partners In Health, and recommends twelve books as holiday gifts.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Part one, the manubrium: P4A starts Friday at noon Eastern; upload videos; Indiegogo opens tonight with perks including John reading from 'a thing'

★★★ John says the tenth annual Project for Awesome, Nerdfighteria's annual charity event, begins at noon Eastern on Friday (9 December 2016), when viewers should upload their P4A videos and submit them to projectforawesome.com. — 00:00:05 · Project for Awesome, Nerdfighteria
★★★ John says the P4A Indiegogo fundraiser goes live at midnight with perks for donors: a P4A tote bag, P4A socks, an exclusive Dear Hank and John episode, and an audio recording of John reading about 15 pages from something he is working on. — 00:00:16 · Indiegogo, Project for Awesome, Dear Hank and John
★★ John says the 'thing' he is working on is intentionally undescriptive. (playful) — 00:00:31

00:00:37 — Part two, the body: first-half money to Save the Children and Partners In Health; $300,000 matching makes every dollar worth $4

★★★ John says all money raised in the first half of the P4A will be split between Save the Children and Partners In Health, which do amazing work helping the most vulnerable children and families. — 00:00:42 · Save the Children, Partners In Health, Project for Awesome
★★★ John announces that a group of Nerdfighters with Hank and him offers $300,000 in matching donations, and donors from Partners In Health and Save the Children also match, so every dollar donated from midnight is worth $4; he thanks the matching donors. — 00:00:59 · Nerdfighteria, Hank Green, Partners In Health, Save the Children

00:01:16 — Part three, the xiphoid process: John's holiday book roundup of twelve books

★★ John begins his holiday book roundup, recommending twelve books he thinks will make excellent holiday gifts. — 00:01:20
★★ John recommends Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, which just won the National Book Award: a haunting, brilliant novel about American slavery imagining the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad. — 00:01:27
★★ John recommends Michael Chabon's Moonglow: a proper genius risks having another nearly perfect novel taken for granted, but this is an amazing book about war, memory and mental illness. — 00:01:38 · mental disorder
★★ John recommends Helen Oyeyemi's What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, a transfixing book of fairy-tale-like short stories unlike anything readers have read. — 00:01:54
★★ For sci-fi fans John recommends Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others: one story was the basis for the wonderful film Arrival, and all are mind-blowingly good. — 00:02:03
★★ John recommends Nnedi Okorafor's Binti, about a girl who travels across the galaxy to attend university: page-turny, exciting and ultimately really moving. — 00:02:13
★★ Among young adult books John recommends An Ember in the Ashes, a thrilling and politically astute dystopian series. — 00:02:27
★★ John recommends Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle to fantasy fans: it's just amazing. — 00:02:31
★★ For a good YA love story John recommends The Sun Is Also a Star. — 00:02:35
★★ Among the many books by YouTubers, John highlights Hannah Hart's Buffering as a beautifully written, extraordinarily touching memoir. (hedged) — 00:02:39
★★ In nonfiction John recommends I Contain Multitudes, a fascinating history of microbes and humanity's relationship with them. — 00:02:48
★ John says he is not thrilled by the notion that half the cells inside your body are not, strictly speaking, yours. (playful) — 00:02:55
★★ John recommends Sapiens, a sweeping history of the last 250,000 or so years exploring how humans became the dominant species and what life was like when we were, in the author's phrase, 'an animal of no significance'. — 00:03:02
★★ For a quirky, delightful, fascinating friend John recommends Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, a wonderfully eccentric memoir enhanced by texting. — 00:03:15

00:03:30 — Sign-off, see you Friday for P4A; end screen with P4A guides; Self-Care Bunny

★ In the end screen John points to guides on making a good P4A video and says the Indiegogo link will appear once it is live. — 00:03:36 · Project for Awesome, Indiegogo
★ John says Self-Care Bunny hopes viewers are being nice to themselves and eating their carrots, unless they are allergic to carrots. (playful) — 00:03:42

In the description and comments

★ John's book list credits An Ember in the Ashes to Sabaa Tahir, Sapiens to Yuval Noah Harari and I Contain Multitudes to Ed Yong, and notes that The Raven King, the amazing last book of The Raven Cycle, just came out. — video description

Threads in this video

first use · John's video structured like the human sternum, in three parts (2016) — John says today's video is like the human sternum, coming in three parts (manubrium, body, xiphoid process), joking that anatomists are bad at naming. (00:00:00)
reminder · John asks viewers to make P4A 2016 videos about charities they care about, uploaded December 9 (2016) — John says the tenth annual Project for Awesome, Nerdfighteria's annual charity event, begins at noon Eastern on Friday, when viewers should upload their P4A videos and submit them to projectforawesome.com. (00:00:05)
asked · John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2016 through its Indiegogo campaign and perks (2016) — John says the P4A Indiegogo fundraiser goes live at midnight with perks for donors: a P4A tote bag, P4A socks, an exclusive Dear Hank and John episode, and an audio recording of John reading about 15 pages from something he is working on. (00:00:16)
milestone · P4A 2016 edition — John announces the P4A 2016 first-half beneficiaries and $300,000 in matching from Nerdfighters, Hank and John, plus matching donors from both charities, making every dollar worth $4. (00:00:52)
result reported · John asks would-be large donors (over $1,000) to email hankandjohn@gmail.com to join the P4A 2016 matching fund (2016) — John announces that a group of Nerdfighters with Hank and him offers $300,000 in matching donations, and donors from Partners In Health and Save the Children also match, so every dollar donated from midnight is worth $4; he thanks the matching donors. (00:00:59)
kept · John: post a holiday gift book roundup video (2016) — John begins his holiday book roundup, recommending twelve books he thinks will make excellent holiday gifts. (00:01:20)

Where the stories that moved here went next

John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2016 through its Indiegogo campaign and perks (2016) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: reminder, 2016-12-13
John asks would-be large donors (over $1,000) to email hankandjohn@gmail.com to join the P4A 2016 matching fund (2016) — reported back; last: thanks, 2016-12-13
John: post a holiday gift book roundup video (2016) — kept
P4A 2016 edition — completed; last: milestone, 2017-06-16

Mentioned

Central: Project for Awesome

Also: Projects: Dear Hank and John

Works: An Ember in the Ashes · Arrival · Binti · Buffering · I Contain Multitudes · Moonglow · Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind · Stories of Your Life and Others · Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal · The Raven Cycle · The Sun Is Also a Star · The Underground Railroad · What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

Organizations: Indiegogo · Partners In Health · Save the Children

Concepts: mental disorder · microorganism · slavery in the United States · young adult literature

Characters: Self-Care Bunny

Only in the description or credits: Amy Krouse Rosenthal · Colson Whitehead · Ed Yong · Hannah Hart · Helen Oyeyemi · Maggie Stiefvater · Michael Chabon · National Book Award · Nnedi Okorafor · Sabaa Tahir · Ted Chiang · The Raven King · Yuval Noah Harari

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