 | There is a fundamental moral problem about the way we use money. It isn't immoral, but it is amoral — it values unimportant things (McDonalds's franchises, foreign exchange, hedge funds) highly, and important things (families, communities, nurses) little. Because of this, it tends to drive out what's good in society, and what's vital for our lives. |  | | | | |
Welcome to BookProject
This page gives an overview of the BookProject website and our purpose in creating
it.
Book and DVD circulation
The BookProject website is a tool for the person-to-person circulation of issue-oriented
books and DVDs.
Here's how it works. A person who wants to circulate a book visits our website to
get a book code for their book. They put the book code in the book, and
then hand the book on to a friend. When the friend finishes the book, they hand
it on to a friend of theirs, and so on. Each person who reads the book can make
an entry in its travelog on the website, and can then use the website to follow
the book's future travels.
Because BookProject books and DVDs often move through multiple degrees of separation,
each book or DVD can soon travel well outside the circle of friends of the person
who put it into circulation.
Book and DVD reviews
Our website provides an open, non-commercial platform for book and DVD reviews.
Whether or not you use our website to circulate books and DVDs, you are welcome
to read and post book and DVD reviews here.
Reading lists
Our website provides a place for groups and individuals to publish lists of recommended
books and DVDs.
Each reading list can have its own "review team" of one or more people
who review and rate the books and DVDs on the list.
Our purpose
Over the past several decades, television has replaced the printed word as the principal
source of information in our society. At the same time, a tremendous consolidation
of media ownership has taken place, so that most of our news, entertainment, and
information is now controlled by a handful of media conglomerates.
During this period, citizen participation in our democracy has declined sharply,
and commercialism has assumed a dominant role in our culture.
Al Gore addressed media consolidation and its effects in his recent book:
| It's hard to understate how much media ownership has changed in the space of a generation... Now that the [media] conglomerates can dominate the expressions of opinion that flood the minds of the citizenry and selectively choose the ideas that are amplified so loudly as to drown out others that, whatever their validity, do not have wealthy patrons, the result is a de facto coup d'etat overthrowing the rule of reason. Greed and wealth now allocate power in our society, and that power is used in turn to further increase and concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the few. If this sounds overly strident, please read on, as I get down to cases. | | | | | |
Our purpose in creating this website is to encourage public discourse that rises
above the din of the mainstream media. We believe that circulating issue-oriented
books and DVDs is a simple way for people to share knowledge, and to open productive,
non-cynical channels of communication within their local community.
Core BookProject topics include peace, social wealth, sustainability, democracy,
and the role of the media in society. Our view is that raising the level of knowledge
and discourse on these topics within local communities is the single most important
action that can be taken to create change in the world.
Our elephants in the room page presents a number of
issues that, despite their obvious, profound, and universal importance, are rarely
brought into focus by the mainstream media.
All BookProject services are free. We are volunteer-run. We do not sell books (or
anything else). We do not accept advertising.
Just been handed a BookProject book or DVD?
If a friend has handed you a book or DVD that is being circulated with BookProject,
you can
click here
to view its travelog, and to create your own travelog entry.
Have a book or DVD to circulate?
If you have a book or DVD that you would like to circulate among friends, you can
click here
to deploy it.
Want to read or post book and DVD reviews?
You can find a specific book or DVD with our book search,
or browse books by category.
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