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When Bay Area software engineer Jesse Young started his One Book/One Tumblr project on a whim, he never expected it to balloon into the success it’s turning out to be.
Young took his inspiration from similar projects on Twitter that in turn took their cue from projects that existed outside the digital realm, like the San Francisco Public Library's One City/One Book program. In all its forms the One Book/One [Blank] model has a simple goal: to get a lot of people reading and talking about the same book at the same time.
Young decided to take the platform to Tumblr, a micro-blogging site that he’s an active user of.
In a May 31st post, he explained his proposal and invited people to nominate titles that could be whittled down to a smaller list that would then be subjected to a vote, with the final title to be announced June 13.
Young didn’t really know what to expect, but the response was explosive. Tumblr employees caught wind of the idea and posted it to the Tumblr Spotlight. The LA Times Tumblr picked up the post. Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon volunteered to offer a 30 percent discount on the final book. And hundreds of people posted comments to his initial blog suggesting titles.
Young said he was “shocked” by the success. He was also surprised by the proposed reading lists.
“I expected to get a lot of “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” suggestions. Instead I got a lot of Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, and Jonathan Safran Foer. It was all over the map.” Said Young.
It was the final author in that list that will be the first ever selection of the One Book/One Tumblr club. In a post Young wrote Monday, he declared that Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” had won by a “landslide,” scoring about half the votes.
“I was kind of pulling for “White Teeth,”” Young said, “Because I have a copy on my bookshelf, but I’ve never read Foer before so I’m excited to read the book.”
Readers will now pick up a copy of the book, dig in, and start posting their thoughts using the Tumblr tag #onebookonetumblr.
As for what the future holds for One Book/One Tumblr, Young isn’t really sure.
“I just hope this will get people reading. I think people reading is always a good thing,” he said.
© The Bay Citizen, 2012
