A Mises Institue Netflix-like Library?

First, I must mention that your work of digitizing all these books is very much appreciated. On numerous occasions I have found it a useful and handy resource in online debates and discussions. It allows me the chance to easily touch up on my own knowledge of whatever subject, and pull out excepts to post.

That said, I never read a book cover to cover on a computer screen, and I'm sure most people are like me and prefer physical books. Your book store is a great resource, and the prices are fair, but I simply cannot afford to purchase every book that I want to read.

My proposal is for a Netflix-like library of your store. A small monthly fee to cover the costs of shipping and wear and tear of the books would allow users to "check out" one or two or three books at a time depending on the fee. I realize a queue system similar to Netflix would would be difficult to implement, but it would be valuable.

Also, you could allow users to purchase a book they have received if they really enjoyed it and wanted to add it to their personal library. Going to the system's site and logging in would show not only the queue of books, and the books that are currently at home, but it would give the option to purchase a book listed as at home (or purchase new upon Mises' receipt of the used).

the problem with this for me is that textbook style works are not given to reading like fiction and then returned.  rather I go through them slowly, sometimes taking months to get through everything.  I don't read them all at once.  I read a part, digest it and then go back when I have questions to see what the answers are in the next section.

You might want to email Jeffrey Tucker on this, he usually responds very quickly. I think that one of the difficulties might be that the Mises Institute already does quite a bit with limited resources and might not be able to take on this project.

Also, you can probably find some of these books in community or university libraries or through inter-library loan.

My wife was looking for something like this yesterday (not for LvMI books, though), and then I thought it would be awesome if the Mises Institute had something like this.  When I did a quick search, I didn't see this thread (I only looked at the top search results, though), so I posted my own: http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/7039.aspx

I agree with the idea. I wish there would be some way to make it work. We've thought about a book club of sorts.

We'll keep trying to figure it out. The goal is to get the books out there. Anything that can accomplish that goal while still allowing us to keep the lights on should be considered.

jtucker:

We've thought about a book club of sorts.

I don't know what the exact plan is, but I was meaning to suggest a book club. So I'd heartily recommend it.

Especially Hayek's works could use a support discussion...

 

nazgulnarsil:

the problem with this for me is that textbook style works are not given to reading like fiction and then returned.  rather I go through them slowly, sometimes taking months to get through everything.  I don't read them all at once.  I read a part, digest it and then go back when I have questions to see what the answers are in the next section.

This could be solved by forming some sort of amateur sketch threatre that attempts to condense all relevant or important points of assorted works into digestible segments that could be either: streamed (youtube etc.), or available for download from a main site and/or torrents (mises, etc.), or is actually rented out to people on dvd's with extras & the sorts to provide incentive for a netflix like distribution model.

Personally, I think an attempt at a completely legal Torrent site to help distribute materials would do wonders, especially if it was kept semi-private (not completely invite only, but invites can give people a bonus starting ratio), so that there isn't a flood of leechers, etc.  

I think this would be more cost-effective compared to a Netflix setup, or perhaps a good pre-cursor to one (Netflix would be more convenient for non-digital, but the digital only distribution of a torrent tracker could show whether or not there is enough activity & interest to warner investing in a Netflix like setup).  

I would like to add a twist to the conversation. Get Mises on Netflix. Produce DVDs that can be added to Netflix's library of movies so that Netflix users can rent them. As a Netflix user, I can say that Netflix does a good job at providing relevent suggestions to its customers. For example, say I rent a movie about Abraham Lincoln on Netflix, Netflix will then provide suggestion for movies related to subject (i.e. Abraham Lincoln, War of Northern Aggresion, etc.). So, when a Netflix user rents a movie about Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the user will be suggested to rent a DVD containing lectures/interviews/etc by Thomas DiLorenzo.