Poor Richard, No Readers - by Matt on April 14, 2008 4:32 PM
Right now, I'm reading Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. Given my long-held admiration of the author, I'm enjoying learning more details of his life (particularly his earlier years). Also, much of the text reveals aspects of his thought-process and his perception of virtues and morality that I had previously been unaware of. It has left me with some questions, though, which I don't expect finishing the book will answer.
If Ben Franklin were lost to the obscurity of history:
Would anybody be reading his autobiography?
Would the stories and ideas contained in the book be less thought provoking and interesting?
I posit that few if any people would be reading the lost-to-history Ben Franklin's autobiography, and that the lost-to-history Ben Franklin's words would still hold value (even if the value was diminished by the inability of the reader to relate the words of the book to his or her preconceptions of its famous author). Such a scenario would be a shame, and I'm sure similar neglect of literary gems is happening today with authors other than Ben Franklin. Shouldn't there be a method of discovering books based on the merit of the writing, rather than the acclaim of the author?
You'll have to wait until we launch (or come work with us, or invest in us, beforehand) to understand specifically how this literary meritocracy might emerge through Jabbik. I can't promise that all great writing by unheard of authors will become widely read once Jabbik launches and matures, but it seems a fairly likely outcome that some "lost" books will gain a new audience, and that'll be a good thing.
As I've mentioned before, writing for this blog is a challenge, because we're keeping our hand close to our chest pre-launch, but I hope gradually and vaguely describing some of the problems Jabbik will solve is better than nothing.
Comments (3)/Permalink
If Ben Franklin were lost to the obscurity of history:
Would anybody be reading his autobiography?
Would the stories and ideas contained in the book be less thought provoking and interesting?
I posit that few if any people would be reading the lost-to-history Ben Franklin's autobiography, and that the lost-to-history Ben Franklin's words would still hold value (even if the value was diminished by the inability of the reader to relate the words of the book to his or her preconceptions of its famous author). Such a scenario would be a shame, and I'm sure similar neglect of literary gems is happening today with authors other than Ben Franklin. Shouldn't there be a method of discovering books based on the merit of the writing, rather than the acclaim of the author?
You'll have to wait until we launch (or come work with us, or invest in us, beforehand) to understand specifically how this literary meritocracy might emerge through Jabbik. I can't promise that all great writing by unheard of authors will become widely read once Jabbik launches and matures, but it seems a fairly likely outcome that some "lost" books will gain a new audience, and that'll be a good thing.
As I've mentioned before, writing for this blog is a challenge, because we're keeping our hand close to our chest pre-launch, but I hope gradually and vaguely describing some of the problems Jabbik will solve is better than nothing.
Comments (3)/Permalink
3 Comments
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I'm excited! Your semi-mission statement on your homepage makes me want to use jabbik--and it will definitely help me gain an edge on my classmates. I also can't wait to discover all the great authors that noone has ever heard of. If the ideas are not mainstream, all the better--more eccentric ideas for me!
Keep it up,
D.
I admire you for reading a real book. I'm trying to make my way through Herbert Simon's autobiography.
I don't think Franklin's ideas would any less interesting or inspiring if he hadn't been famous because he was brilliant, a polymath. However, I wonder if he would have been lost to the obscurity of history if he were alive today--probably not.
I read blogs and self-published works knowing virtually nothing about the authors. If you have an autobiography (preferably an audiobook), I may just listen to it one day. With the popularity of blogs and online libraries, there is a huge appetite for people's opinions and thoughts, from the obscure to the most famous of famous.
A big problem as Herbert observed, is there is a shortage of attention, so whether or not a great or interesting idea is discovered, no matter who owns is, is mostly a matter of luck.
Herbert's observation is a good one. One of the benefits of Jabbik is that it will enable users to find interesting writing related to what they're curious about with far less effort (or attention span) than is required with existing resources (Google Books, or a Barnes & Noble, for example).
In other words, Jabbik will reduce luck's role in discovering interesting ideas, information, etc.