Daily Thoughts 4/5/2010

Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the US Library of Congress from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. Composite image assembled from LOC source images on April 12, 2006 by Jim Harper.

Daily Thoughts 4/5/2010

All federal libraries have been consolidated under a single library agency. It should be quite interesting to see what happens next. I can see legislation coming up soon which will change libraries. http://bit.ly/9qRRby

You can't judge a book by its cover if it doesn't have one. From New York Times Books section. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/books/31covers.html?hp

I had a chance to read some more of The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel. He is critiquing free market absolutism. He challenges objectivism and the idea that the market must be free. His arguments are focused on the social and environmental costs of having a purely free market. In traditional economics, things like the environment and social problems are considered externalities. Problems caused by obesity from junk food, or environmental dumping are not considered in the cost of doing business.

I especially like his criticism on free giveaways. Raj Patels talks about how this causes people to increase their consumption, eating or buying many things which they don't need. Giving away breakfast at a restaurant for a day in the hope that you will come back regularly. There is a price in habits of consumption if we take every single free thing given to us.

I am not a huge fan of advertising or mass consumption. This book has a certain appeal to me. I also have seen how close to disaster markets can get if they are not watched carefully.

I am thinking of taking the Readers Advisor 101 course from the American Library Association in June. http://bit.ly/aCdpNg