A Lofty Goal
If you’re a geek/nerd/social-recluse-with-a-penchant-for-technology, chances are you either have a huge bookshelf, or you are known on a first name basis at the library, especially in the SciFi/Fantasy areas. I myself have recently started building a “library” of books for myself. I started with all the greats I’ve read over the years (Frank Herbert, Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, etc.), and then have been slowly plodding through more currently respected authors (Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Raymond Feist, etc). And all of this has got me thinking…
The Goal
What am I talking about? I’ll make it simple: I want to start a foundation, raise funds, and eventually construct a brick-and-mortar library that stores only Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, to be located somewhere in Silicon Valley. This is obviously something like 10 years down the road for it to come to fruition, but you have to get started somewhere.
Why?
It’s simple: I love these kinds of books, and almost everyone I’ve met in the geek/nerd category does too. And what is Silicon Valley, if not a bunch of geeks and nerds (maybe they call themselves ‘engineers’ or ’scientists’, but it’s the same thing)? I want to make all the books that we (that’s ‘geeks/nerds’ collectively) have read and love easily available to the upcoming generations of children who don’t read as much.
If the “Millennials” read less than “Generation X”, then whatever they’re labeling the current 10-yr olds as read even less. My generation was wrapped up in TV, video games, and the computer… but with a large helping of the, say it with me now, real world. Many of today’s children are growing up glued to their MMORPGs on either XBOX or the PC, and don’t even realize that the games they spend their lives on (World of Warcraft is a perfect example) started out as a way to visually interact with some books that people read.
How?
This is a big one. I’m not really sure yet, but I’m basing my plans for this off of a South Park episode:
- Steal Underpants
- ???
- Profit!
But instead, it looks like:
- Start a foundation
- Somehow get alot of donations and interest
- ???
- Library!
I’m hoping to appeal to all the inner readers of Silicon Valley that I’m sure are out there. I’d like to get interest, and money, from anyone who wants to donate, but the big proponents would be Presidents/CEOs, rich people [aka. Venture Capitalist's), entire corporate sponsorships, etc.
When?
As I mentioned, this is super-long term. I'm going to start figuring out the paperwork early this year (January/February) and go from there... but I'm assuming that short of some magic happening, 10 years is a good estimate. In this estimate I'm including what I hope will be a custom constructed building whose appearance will match the high flying ideals of this.
Ok...?
I just wanted to put my thoughts out there to the general public. If you're interested in helping, feel free to contact me. I'm also thinking about names for this foundation, and the eventual library, so "[post] ‘em if you got ‘em”.
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