Facebook has its share of GIFs and memes, but founder Mark Zuckerberg wants the social network to be about much more than that.
The new selection for his online book club is an 800-page thesis from a Harvard psychologist about violence in society. His first choice was no common beach read either: a modestly-selling 300-page argument about how the “antiestablishment drive of micropowers can topple tyrants, dislodge monopolies, and open remarkable new opportunities, but it can also lead to chaos and paralysis.”
His book selections so far, combined with Facebook’s algorithms that value the substantive over so-called clickbait, say something about the community Zuckerberg is looking to build.
“My goal was never really to make Facebook cool,” Zuckerberg said in a chat with users last year. “I am not a cool person, and I’ve never really tried to be cool.”
His book club is dedicated to “learning about new cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies.” It has collected more than 270,000 fans since launching on Jan. 2, and sales of the first book, “The End of Power” by Moises Naim, spiked after Zuckerberg revealed it as his first read.
The new selection is Steven Pinker’s “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.” It argues that violence among humans has declined over time. “If we understand how we are achieving this, we can continue our path towards peace,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Zuckerberg hasn’t always been focus on learning. He’s among Harvard University’s most famous dropouts, leaving the school in 2004 to expand what was then TheFacebook.com.
