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Life's Library

2018-10-16 · announcement · John · 3:13 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Announcements · tags: self promotion, civic or action cta

Celebrating Hank's book debuting at number one and the fun of reading it together on Discord, John announces Life's Library, a book club he and Rosianna Halse Rojas developed with DFTBA: a book every six weeks for a year, discussed on Discord, profits to Partners In Health, starting with If You Come Softly if enough people sign up.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hank's book debuts at number one; watching people read it together on Discord; reading alone vs with others

  • ★★ John announces that Hank's book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. — 00:00:03 · Hank Green, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, The New York Times
  • ★★ John says the whole experience has been joyful: it is much better to have your brother publish a book than to publish one yourself. (playful) — 00:00:08 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John's favorite part has been watching people read and discuss Hank's book together in the Fans of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing Discord channel. (hedged) — 00:00:13 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★★ John says reading is usually solitary and private, but talking about a finished book with other people can be very fulfilling. — 00:00:20
  • ★★ When John and Sarah first met they started a two-person book club and kept it up for about three months before they started dating, failing to notice they were in love. (playful) — 00:00:27 · Sarah Urist Green

00:00:29 — John and Sarah's two-person book club; missing a more community-oriented internet

  • ★★ John has lately been missing reading with many people and a slightly less open, more community-oriented internet where people do and make things together. — 00:00:39
  • ★ Lately much of John's time online feels like shouting his despair into an infinite void. (playful) — 00:00:49

00:00:58 — Life's Library: format, subscriptions, prices, Partners In Health, first book, sign-up and sign-off

  • ★★★ John announces Life's Library, developed with Rosianna Halse Rojas and DFTBA.com: every six weeks for a year a group reads a book at least a year old and discusses it on Discord. — 00:00:58 · Rosianna Halse Rojas, DFTBA Records
  • ★★ Books are chosen alternately by Rosianna and John; the physical subscription mails the book with a letter from John, bookplates by artists, postcards and other surprises. — 00:01:17 · Rosianna Halse Rojas
  • ★★ Subscribers also get digital extras: a podcast by Rosianna and John about each book, a discussion guide, and Q&As with the authors when available. — 00:01:32 · Rosianna Halse Rojas
  • ★★ A digital subscription lets members get the book from a local library or bookstore and receive the other resources by email. — 00:01:46
  • ★★ Those who cannot afford either option can still borrow the book from a library and join the Discord discussion. — 00:01:56
  • ★ The books will range from YA novels to mysteries to memoirs, to read broadly and celebrate many kinds of books. — 00:02:02
  • ★★★ The physical subscription costs $25 per book including free domestic and international shipping; the digital subscription costs $10 per book. — 00:02:08
  • ★★★ All profits from Life's Library go to Partners In Health, which they have worked with for over a decade and which provides health care to the poor. — 00:02:16 · Partners In Health
  • ★★★ The first book, if they pull it off, will be Jacqueline Woodson's If You Come Softly, published 20 years ago but still blisteringly contemporary; Woodson is one of John's favorite writers. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Life's Library will only happen if enough people sign up, so John cannot promise it will. — 00:02:40
  • ★★★ John asks interested viewers to sign up at lifeslibrarybookclub.com to be notified; if enough do within a week or two, it launches and copies arrive by Christmas. — 00:02:45
  • ★ John adds that Life's Library would make a great gift for family and friends. (playful) — 00:02:57

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Life's Library

Also: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing · Discord · If You Come Softly · Jacqueline Woodson · Partners In Health · Sarah Urist Green · The New York Times

Only in the description or credits: DFTBA Records · Rosianna Halse Rojas

Also centred on Life's Library: I took a year off social media. Here's what happened. · never get bored

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