Rediscover the Library
I’ve been listening to the audiobook of “Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” during my commute. It’s got powerful ideas. I highly recommend it.
But that’s not why I’m writing. I’m writing because I got the book from the library. It’s just like Amazon.com, only free. And it’s better than trying to steal it off the internet because there’s no fakes out there.
I suppose I have a big advantage here because I now live just 1 1/2 blocks from a library. And I know that the library isn’t free, it’s paid for by my taxes. But Blink is still a really good book. And I’ve got a small pile of books, CDs and DVDs next to me about my upcoming vacation to England, all from the library. :-)
Good book.
The problem with government run libraries is not that they’re paid for with your tax dollars – the problem is, they’re paid for with everyone else’s!
Actually, the cross subsidy is one problem. The second problem is that the cross subsidy creates greater demand than “should” actually exist.
Library supporters assert: “libraries are necessary; look how much everyone uses them!”, but the problem with this analysis is that people use libraries because they are free. Consider how many burritos you eat in a year. Now consider how many you would eat if they were free. More, right? Now, consider that everyone gets taxed for libraries, and then everyone gets free libraries – result: you use libraries more than you would if you actually had to pay your own way, like cable.
In my traditionally tersely snarky but cleverly incisive manner, I will simply respond:
Mmmmm, free burritos!