There’s a brand new site – http://freeobjectivistbooks.org/ – that is trying to match up students who want to read a Rand book with donors who are willing to send them the book.
This is great, thanks for posting this.
The site is going stong. It had a lot of requests and donations. The number of pending requests seemed to go down as people donated books, but now they’re rising – I guess the word is getting out. So, donors are always welcome.
I think it’s great they provide the non-fiction like OPAR to be read. TF and AS aren’t so uncommon anymore, and if there were ever a day books like VOS or OPAR were shooting up the Amazon best seller list you would know something exciting is changing.
I think it’s great they provide the non-fiction like OPAR to be read. TF and AS aren’t so uncommon anymore, and if there were ever a day books like VOS or OPAR were shooting up the Amazon best seller list you would know something exciting is changing.
I guess the site simply lists all the fiction and non-fiction. I agree, it’s good they list both. Its the students who say what book they want.
I’ve donated 5 books all were either VoS or CtUI. Like you, I figure that FH and AS are generally available, and my personal intent is to provide something to people who already like one of those enough to want to know more.
So far 238 books have been requested, and 165 of those have found donors.
Attention young photogenic Ayn Rand fans:
Want to help promote Free Objectivist Books? I need pictures for the website and promotional materials. It’s as simple as this: Send me a picture of yourself (or a friend) reading an Ayn Rand book.
An update: Donors have sponsored 461 books for students! (http://freeobjectivistbooks.org/donate)
There are still over 100 students waiting to find sponsors.
When a student you sponsor finishes the book, they are now prompted to let you know what they thought of it. For instance, a student from Turkey, read *Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand* and said: “I just discovered that how much we need the idea of ‘I’ to free the world.”
One from George Mason University, and read *Atlas Shrugged*: “A truly inspirational book, and more relevant than ever. Freedom is what allowed the world to flourish, not central planning and plunder. No one has the right to take from one person to give it to the next.”
From an email sent out by the Free Objectivist Books site:
I’ll be giving an info session about Free Objectivist Books next week at OCON 2012 in San Diego (http://objectivistconferences.com/ocon2012). The session is Saturday, July 7, 7:00-7:30pm, in Executive Center 3AB.
If you’re at the conference or in the area, come see what an impact we’re having, together, and hear some of the most inspiring testimonials from students.
OCON attendees, I need people to spread the word about the session! Find any one of the Crawford family (Jack, Susan, David, or me) to receive a handful of small cards with the time, date, and room printed on them. You can hand them out in turn to anyone you mention the session to.
Whether you’re attending OCON or not, you can help by sending me a testimonial about how you’ve enjoyed using the site or found it rewarding. I may use your quote in my presentation and/or on the website.
Facebook event for the session: https://www.facebook.com/events/382328731830644/
Just sent a copy of Atlas to some college kid who said he’s interested in Objectivism. I feel like I just fought back. 1000x more satisfying than arguing with liberals on reddit.
1 Like
Thank you for doing so.
I just sent Xmas gifts to a few kids who want to read Rand.
Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology enroute to the mind of a Political Science student interested in clarifying some details brought up in OPAR.
1 Like
“Disrupt the Culture” talk recording now online
Jason Crawford’s presentation at OCON, August 11th,1213.
I just donated a few more books.
While doing so, I noticed the site says this is a 503 charity, which means that donations are tax-deductible, allowing the government o pick up part of the bill for anyone who itemizes.
Reading through the requests, there was one funny one, asking for The Virtue of Selfishness, saying: “In the 21st century there are a growing number of people who have no food, home, or even clean water. And sadly, with deep pockets, huge houses fancy clothes and yet are ignorant of the sufferings around them. In order to further enlighten myself on how to be more kind i want to read this book.” (The requester says he’s in 7th grade)
The site has almost 950 requests since Jan of this year (they prune older ones).
2 Likes
I like two things about Mr. Crawford’s site (besides the obvious): it’s short and sweet to send a book (much, much easier now that you can just buy a book for them over the internet), and you can read a reason for the request. It creates more incentive on the donating side. For example, I sent a book to a kid who played Bioshock and wanted to know more about the Rand references. Perfect!
It’s great to know there’s an interested party beforehand. I wish I’d kept my old physical copies for donating on this site instead of bookstore-ing them.
FreeObjectivistBooks allows donors and recipients to exchange messages without exchanging emails. Some people will send a thank you message when they get the book. Rarely, they will send a message when they’re done. Today, I got one to say how “Virtue of Selfishness” was a useful perspective while taking a Political science class in college.
I replied, to say that the forum was one place to get follow-up answers.
2 Likes
I paid to send a dozen-odd books today. I’m wondering what the pro’s and con’s are of donating books through this site vs. donating to ARI. Donating books targets an interested recipient, but is comparatively expensive per book vs. the expense that ARI incurs to donate books to high schools and whoever else. The shipping cost of donating your own physical copies makes it totally not worthwhile to do so—you’d be better off just donating them to your local library.
I wish the site would ask donees whether they’d prefer Kindle format. The work-around is to message the donee via the site and ask them. I haven;t done this, but I plan on doing so the next time. If the donee prefers Kindle, it makes sense to give them that version. The price is often a bit less, but it makes sense either way.
The other thing that happens with the very popular books is that people sell them for 1 cent on Amazon, and make their money via the shipping fee. It would be a bit of trouble to do the research; so, maybe not worth it, but one could ask a donee if they’re okay with a used book.
This and the standard ARI thingy both have their advantages. The most obvious advantage here is expressed interest. However, that’s also a negative in this sense: they might well buy it anyway.
The second advantage to this site is that it allows you to read what the donee says and make a judgement, based on that. (Right now there’s someone who wants it because 'for a class at school and its a great African American book")
Third advantage: if you have an interest in donating a specific book, or to a specific country, or to a specific city, you could do that.