February 21, 2007: The Wikipedia in Your Brain
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every time I watch one of these and you’re in front of the book shelf, I’m distracted by two books above your right shoulder - my left as I’m looking at you, through you. one is a smallish book with a gold spine and a white block on the top half of the spine. it’s distracting because I feel I also own this book but can’t identify it. also the book to the left…right…of it: a white spine with a red circle on top. I think that one is “Woe is I” which I also have, but I’m not at my office now and can’t verify. it’s really driving me crazy because I feel like I’m looking at my own book shelf in your house on the other side of the country. creepy!
I can’t tell which books you’re referring to. Can you be more specific? Are they on the middle shelf or the top?
Anyway, I don’t think it’s “Woe Is I,” because I don’t own that book.
okay, as you are looking at the video, the are in the upper left quadrant, top shelf, two books on the very left. the leftmost is white, the next one is gold.
Oh, okay, thanks!
The gold book is “Galatea 2.2,” by Richard Powers.
The white book with the color at the top is “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.
It’s funny you noticed those two, since they are among my very favorite and most cherished books. Both highly recommended!
Yes! Galatea! Which I haven’t read, but Gordon has it (and loved it). I don’t have the Rosenthal book. It’s masquerading nicely as “Woe Is I.”
it’s funny cause I’m usually distracted by GULAG which is almost always directly above your head. i thought it was just me.
I stare at Gulag every time, too…And I second the Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life recommendation!
As a budding librarian, I was scolded on my first day on the job for using Wikipedia. Don’t get me wrong Wikipedia is a great concept, theoretically, but so was communism- but look where that got us in the world!
Hank and I both have a lot of experience with Wikipedia v. Britannica because we’ve both done a lot of work for mental floss.
My opinion: Wikipedia is reliable in a general sense. But no one in their right mind would use it as a sole source. The same is true of Britannica, though. Hank referenced a study (it was a small study, admittedly) that found that Britannica has more errors in scientific articles than Wikipedia.
All encyclopedias are flawed (well, and also all ‘knowledge’ is inherently flawed, I suppose), but I’m glad to have wikipedia in the world. Wikipedia and Britannica function as a much-needed check and balance, in my opinion. They inform one another and correct one another.
That said, I don’t want any encyclopedia in my head, for the reasons outlined in the video.
I just want you to know I would never, ever consider editing the Yeti entry in your brain…because I am the same sweet girl I always was. I am, however, editing the John Green entry to mention that you’re a polygamist who is married to both a Yeti and two-time supermodel Julie Baskin Green. And I’m exchanging the present Yeti photo for a lovely shot of Armin Shimerman. Muwahahahaha
Julie
Were you aware? You must have been: John Green researched and wrote about the Sasquatch!! Or maybe I’m just being taken in by a Wikipedia joke, but I find that a remarkable something something.
Was that really Julie Baskin?
If so, I demand that you prove yourself! What was our song?
John
No alas…not the real Julie, who would probably never substitute a photo of Armin Shimerman for the real and lovely Mrs. Green.
Hmmm…but your song….your song….fourth grade. When I See You Smile by Bad English? No One Like You by the Scorpions? We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister? Okay, I give up.
Feed is such a great book. I love to booktalk it to high school students because the “internet in your brain” idea really catches their interest. Also, they think it’s cool that the moon is a trashed-out night club.
Yes it’s a hell of a good book. That first line–”We went to the moon to have fun but the moon turned out to suck” or however it goes–is pretty amazing.
Does this mean I should read ‘Feed’, which has been sitting under my bed for months?
It’s under the bed because I’ve run out of shelf space, due to the fact that I refuse to exile Mistress Masham’s Repose, The Phantom Tollboothand The Complete Works of Jane Austen from my ‘To Be Read Next’ shelf. (They were too good to ever remove from the queue.) Does anyone else ever have the problem of running out of bookshelves? John, your shelves look pretty full. Where do you keep all your old favorites? What do you do when you buy new, awesome books? Some books are more worthy than others for a place on the shelf, obviously, but I’m beginning to feel guilty about stacking them under my bed and in my bathroom closet.
I think this problem should be addressed in an upcoming vlog, because we are all readers, here, and it’s a pressing problem, and you, as an author AND a reader, should be EXTRA qualified to answer this question.
(You’ll be happy to know that both Alaska and Katherines are on my shelf.)
Julia,
Mostly we buy more bookshelves. We have a few thousand books, actually (most are in the bookshelves in the office, which you can see in a few of the videos). But yes, at some point, you cannot just keep buying more bookshelves, and then you have to make difficult decisions. But yeah, you should read FEED for sure. It doesn’t even take up much shelf space.
And thanks for keeping my books!
Actually, you can just keep buying more bookshelves, but you have to then keep buying a bigger house. I once knew a woman who bought a farm house with a stable and turned into stall into a library for a different century’s worth of books. Definitely Utopian.
I agree, feed is a quality novel. What is also quality is the facebook we started about you: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2232973328
and here’s my survey:
1. Your name: Elizabeth Farrell
2. Your Web page: I don’t have a real one… http://hs.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1452150062
3 What have you been up to this past year (please be as detailed as possible, because we actually want to know)?
Well I moved from 11th grade to 12th grade, went to Topsail Island, went to Italy (which was kickass), saw the Pope in person, lifeguarded, swim coached, ran, swam, played soccer, threw disc, and painted some pictures.
4 How much longer do you think you’ll be doing what you’re doing?
Probably until June at which time I will stop suffering from Senioritis and enjoy my summer
5 Why are you doing it?
Because I have been going to school for 13 years and I am ready for college, dammit
6 What do you want to be doing?
Hanging out somewhere warm
7 What’s next in your life?
College/becoming an architect (?)
8 How You Doin’?
More importantly how YOU doin?
9 What’s the best book you read this year?
Looking for Alaska, and no I’m not just saying that because this is a blog by John Green, I’m being honest
10 Describe a perfect day?
I’m on the beach in Italy with my sweet Italian relatives and it’s warm and I’m eating gelato and it’s delicious and probably strawberry banana flavored. Then maybe I see an OAR concert or a Ben Harper concert or both
11 Assuming that all things come to an end…how do you think humans will go extinct?
Aliens will decide that we are no longer fit for existence, convince us all to get on a spaceship (probably it will allow us to make money) and then destroy us with a lazer gun or something
12 How are you feeling about kids these days?
I feel like the ones at the after school program where I work are really awesome. Lots are really annoying though
13 What is in the trunk of your car right now?
An orange traffic cone, my literature book, and a Ninja turtle costume from Wal-Mart
14 Ambrozzo tastes better than anything else, what does ambrozzo taste like?
These little chocolates with walnuts on the inside that come from Italy
15 If you were a cliché, what cliché would you be?
Probably all ears
16 What is your least favorite part of any given day?
Physics class
17 Do you enjoy science fiction?
Yes, especially Orsan Scott Card
18 Cheese or Chocolate?
Chocolate, definitely
19 Where would you live if you could live anywhere?
Some place warm, probably Italy, Southern California, or Southern Spain
20 What was your first concert?
Warped Tour 2005 in VA beach
21 If you could start a business that would be instantly successful, what kind of business would it be?
A business that allowed people to buy plots of the Amazon Rainforest in order to protect it from the soy farmers that are currently cutting it down at a ridiculous rate. The business would be successful in that we would succeed in protecting the majority of the remaining rainforest.
22 Invisibility or Time Travel?
Definitely time travel
23 What’s wrong with the world?
People are too self-centered and have the wrong desires for the wrong reasons
John, the issue you have with Wikipedia in your brain seems to derive from the fact that you assume that once it is there you cannot seperate the Wikipedia information from the rest of your thoughts and emotions. If you could still react rationally to the Wikipedia entries in your brain, like you would react to the outside world Wikipedia (for example, if the real Wikipedia told you the Yeti/Sarah was a terrible monster you would just think it through and disregard it) then all of your (hypothetical) problems would be solved! Does that make sense? Sorry, I ramble.
Clair,
You make a compelling point.
However:
If Wikipedia is IN your brain, and if the brain = the mind*, then I think it would be impossible to disagree with wikipedia. At least potentially.
Like, say you are colorblind. Someone can tell you an object is green, but you cannot differentiate between the green object and a red one, because your brain doesn’t happen to work that way.
So if wikipedia was in your brain, would you have a way of critically examining the information coming out of it? Like I know that my friend Daniel has curly hair. But if the wikipedia in my brain were consistently edited to say that Daniel had straight hair, I would be surprised every single time I saw Daniel’s hair.
Okay, I’m going to stop, because we’re veering dangerously close to the plot of “50 First Dates” here. I hope I’ve suitably danced around your argument.
Okay, I see what you mean. I guess it all depends on the specifics of what having Wikipedia in your brain really means; Having it be inseperable from the rest of your knowledge vs. it being like if you had a photographic memory and read all of Wikipedia so you could remember everything it said. But I guess you would have to read it every day, what with the editing… Okay, your seems more likely.
On a barely related note, I think I Wikipedia race would be a pretty great challenge. The idea is to pick two completely unrelated topics and try to get from one to the other using only the links within Wikipedia articles. For example, I just got from World War II to Britney Spears in nine links.
WWII to Britney Spears in nine links?
Pretty weird.
Did all the links lead from AND TO Wikipedia, or just from Wikipedia?
Because I think I am going to try this.
The whole thing is inside Wikipedia. The articles are all full of links to other articles, so you click on those til you get where you are trying to go. You could probably get there in faster than nine, but one of the rules is to never go back; if you click a link and think of a better way it is too late.
Damn Julie Baskin! Let the Yeti LIVE!
Everyone else is leaving very intelligent comments about the Wikipedia-in-your-brain argument and comparing apparently-fantastic books I have, for the most part, not even heard of (ouch,) but it’s been a long day, and it’s tiptoeing towards late, so I now choose to be the daft, lame one who says the following:
Hurrah! You have fixed the site! Oh how shiny and awesome! Yayness
That’s a lot of exclamation marks. Yikes.
Amy
John. I have a question…I usually use Safari to watch the videos on my 5 year old Mac, but I used firefox to view the video today because so many people said it was better. But when I used it, the video’s sound got all messed up and wasn’t with the video, then the video just stopped. Is this a computer problem, youtube problem or something else?
It’s official. I really, really, REALLY need a book about everyone having Wikipedia in their brains. REALLY REALLY REALLY.
I also have to go read Feed now.
what about wikipedia in your pants?
wonder how that would work out…
Hm. Wikipedia in my brain…What about dictionary.com? A word’s definition isn’t exactly debatable, and I don’t know a single person who couldn’t use dictionary.com. Or heck, even google in general. I still don’t know how well that all would work out. Inevitably someone would want to put banners or ads or God forbid pop-ups on the new brain-wikipedia to help sponsor those experts who edit it, and then we’d still end up remaining mindless consumers. Its a vicious, vicious cycle.
I think I’m adding Feed to my to-read list now…
Which makes me wonder, why are dystopia books and movies almost always really good? I think every one that I’ve ever read or seen, I’ve enjoyed. Weird. Good weird, but weird.
Talking about Wikipedia always makes me think of my favorite Dinosaur Comic: Irish Evil!!
Hey, John-
I have to admit…I am completely unfamiliar with the titles you all were tossing around. Geo (hubby) and I are always searching for good books to read, would you mind passing along 3 or 4 of your “absolutely must reads”?
Thanks!
P.S.: glad to read another “marie” is hooked on the whole ‘in your pants phenom”. TV titles are fun:
I Love Lucy…in my pants
Leave it to Beaver…in my pants
Deal or No Deal….in my pants
America’s Top Model…in my pants
and arguably the best–
How I Met Your Mother…in my pants
Ciao!
Oh… I have to tell Editor Andrew that you mentioned my name in the blog. Could this mean a lofty and much needed $100 bonus in my advance check? I get bonuses for prizes and awards. A Brotherhood 2.0 mention is like a prize isn’t it? C’mon. Sure it is.
Please say yes.
I also have to agree with Heather who said, ‘Damn Julie Baskin! Let the Yeti LIVE!’
That has to be one of the best quotes of the year.
I have Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life on my bookshelf, too. My favorite entries are the traffic ticket and the entry about her brother wearing a towel like a girl, especially the picture that accompanies the entry for clarification.
it’s such a great book. I also like the part where she submits to a lie detector test to confirm that she is no James Frey.
Speaking of Wikipedia…
Did you know that there’s another John Green who is a Bigfoot expert? Coincidence? Wikipedia tomfoolery?
John Green, Bigfoot researcher on Wikipedia
(Yes, I know Bigfoot and Yeti aren’t the same thing and I mean no disrespect to Sarah. Clearly being a/the Yeti is more desirable.)
Yes. That John Green is often referred to as “one of the four horsemen of Sasquatchery.”
I would like to think that, as I am married to a Yeti, I am also one of the four horsemen of Sasquatchery.
Crap! Next time I’ll read the comments before acting like I discovered something cool.
No that was something cool! And I don’t think it has previously been mentioned in comments. It’s important really for all our viewers to know that there’s a fellow John Green specializing in Sasquatchery.
John, I wasn’t trying to bait you into negativity about fellow authors—that would be bad form, regardless of your opinion. (Not that I doubt your sincerity.) The point I wanted to make was that I wanted Katherines recognized this year exactly because it *didn’t* take on any “big” topics—no slavery or Holocaust, not even any death, pregnancy, divorce, or drug use. After all the hoopla over Book Thief and Octavian, I worried that YA community was tending toward writing about “big” stuff to be taken seriously–valuing ambition of topic over execution and craft. So I was excited that Katherines was honored with Book Thief and Octavian, coolly asserting that ordinary life can be made interesting in the right hands.
“There are too many books about the Holocaust” is a stupid criticism—the repetitiveness or staleness of a topic is all in how it’s handled, not the number of books about it.
Opinions of the editor’s wife do not reflect the opinions of the editor (or so he says).
Carrie, are you hatchin’ your Hatchin’ Grow Lizard right now, too? That would just be too creepy.
Elizabeth!
How did you know?
Maybe the ‘wikipedia in your mind’ should only be able to be edited by yourself and four other people. They do not have to be your favorite people, but you have to trust them completely and they should probably each have their area of expertise. For instance, the people who would be able to edit my Wikipedia would be;
1. Dad (area of expertise: airplanes, science, mental math)
2. Michelle (area of expertise: morals, anime, advice)
3. Taylor (area of expertise: animals, craziness, silly sister stuff)
4. Mom (area of expertise: health concerns, food)
So… who would you choose to be on your ‘Wikipedia-in-your-mind Board’?
Ok, so it took me FOREVER to find this link. The whole “wikipedia in your brain” thing reminded me of my favorite British transvestite comedian(…awkward…): Eddie Izzard!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EEUnrt5CmY
I think I have to warn you it’s like PG13, he uses some naughty language…but there’s a funny bit about “in my mind,” which made the whole brain discussion a lot funnier…to me, anyway…in my mind…
Thanks for the link, Chloe. And since our videos are fairly pg-13 as well, I think it should be ok.
The Wiki editing-in-the-brain sounds like Feed meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I tell people about Feed whenever commercialism comes into the conversation.
I think you’ve found your next book title: (The) Voice of the Yeti.
My co-workers call me the walking encyclopedia. I find this highly amusing BECAUSE three different locations have deemed me such, not knowing that the previous store dubbed me thus.
feed.. in my pants
i’m not even going to comment.
Yeah, Feed is great - I listened to the audio version and I was very impressed by Baker’s performance. I’ve heard that some people find Feed to be difficult to get into when physically read but the audio put it together for them, but I wouldn’t know - I didn’t try the print version. (For all those who are wanting to dive into Feed)
“Dive into Feed” sounds like hog feeding time.
I listened to Feed, too, and was similarly impressed with the reading - and the format works well for all the advertising.
If someone could edit your brain Wikipedia, it could be useful to expose you to updates info. So maybe if there was a track changes feature that could let you see the edits that were made before acepting them? Hmm, but sooner or later someone would figure a direct hack and you’d never know edits were made. I think I may have spent waaayyyy too much time thinking about this.
Wow…Amazing that you can remember your fourth grade girl friend. I can’t even remember my…uh…oh, man, I forgot what I was going to say. Funny stuff. Keep ‘em coming!
Greg
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Green
I found this most amazing wiki, I feel at the utmost compelled to edit this in the name of the yeti. So for a very quick instant Sarah green will have become a Himalayan man beast.
the edit will take precedence on February, 02, 2008 at 2:00
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I was shocked, very shocked to know that any variation of Sara Green, Sarah Green, Sera Green, Sarae Green, Sara(n)h Green, etc. did not indeed have a picture of Sarah Green!
I was also equally shocked to know that under Yeti there is no such thing called Sarah Green!
That is a problem someone will have a remedy.
also, I know these comments and any comments posted hence are possibly over a year too late and thus should be righteously ignored, however, if you are indeed reading this then I should take the time to sue you for trapping me with alaska.
or not.
ITS LIKE INCEPTION!
i always watch Deal or No Deal during my past time, what a great show and a great host*~*