Readings, Rated
BookSwim Sucks
BookSwim is a new site that’s like Netflix, but for books. Users pay nearly $20 a month to get access to 150,000 titles. People, it’s called “the library.” Even those who live in remote areas have access to something called “interlibrary loans.” I think the government should seize any profits this dumb company makes and force everyone who joined to donate $20 to their local library system. I suspect it’s a libertarian scheme.
Three other aesthetic quibbles: the books they feature are dumb, putting two words together (MySpace, BookSwim, LibraryThing) is sooo played out, and the woman on the home page has a dumb tribal tattoo (as do many libertarians). Blech.
You are right to blame the libertarians and, of course, no one with a tribal tattoo should be trusted. There are so many things wrong with BookSwim that I don’t know where to begin. But let’s start by assuming the average American, sadly, doesn’t even read a book per month and thus is not going to pay $20/month to finish a book that god knows what the previous reader has done to it. But then again I am a socialist who loves owning all of his books so what do I know. Although people are more than welcome to borrow if they play nice with my books.