I am on Facebook, of course, although you will not find me easily- I have checked the little box that hides my profile from public searches. But I do share quite a bit with my friends and family members, many local but most far flung.
It was not until I saw the movie “The network” that I figured out who Mark Zuckerberg was, and I cannot say that at the time I was sympathetic to him. But with time, and seeing his activities in the world, a number of initiatives, charity work, etc. I decided he was ok after all.
Then I watched him speaking Mandarin and my “ok opinion” jumped to a much higher level. It is admirable that he took the time to study a completely different, challenging language, and was open to come out to a high profile, public event and risk making a fool of himself. And for an American, that was quite a statement. I started almost admiring the guy, and as such decided to follow him on FB.
His posting asking opinions as to which should be his 2015 yearly challenge was also endearing to me. Of course I suppose he already knew what he was going to choose and this was just a PR gig. But, honestly, why would he even need a personal PR gig?
And then he announced that he would read a book every 2 weeks, and formed a page called A Year of Books, which as today has more than 249,000 likes. The first book was Moises Naim’s The End of Power. The book was sold out in Amazon by the time I checked, luckily I could get the Kindle version. And today, there was a Q&A with the author. I am delighted. No, I have not finished the book yet, but still enjoyed reading the questions and the answers by the author. Here is what he would like the readers to take away from the book:” That power has become easier to acquire, harder to use and easier to lose. And that this is happening everywhere, both geographically and functionally. That is, it is happening around the world and in all human endeavors where power matters – from politics to the military, and from religion to higher education or business and all else.”
I think this is a great idea. Love books, and love the idea to spread the word about books in such a global manner. Can’t wait to learn which is the next.
barralopolis 