You can’t read without Literacy. I like to read, hence I like literacy.

Posted by King on 02.20.2009 at 6:10 pm

If I had a nickel for every dollar we had raised for world literacy, I would have $272,906.50. Approximately. That’s not too shabby. For those of you playing along at home, I took the total “funds raised for global literacy” number from the ticker at the top of this page and multiplied it by .05. In addition to promoting literacy, I also support mathematics.

If you don’t know me, let me introduce myself. I am Aaron King, and I have the illustrious honor of being Better World Books’ first full time employee. If you ordered any books from us way back in 2003, there is a pretty good chance that I personally packaged them. It has been a pretty cool journey watching us grow from a small basement warehouse (where we had to hand carry every single box of books up and down the stairs) with a few thousand books scattered around to our massive operation today that holds over 2 million books at any given time.

I like our company concept a lot. Why, might you ask? Well, to be consistent with how we have branded this blog, allow me to give you a n#mb#r#d list.

1. I am all about books. I am not going to say “I heart books”, because I personally thing the entire “I heart this and that” concept is a little over done these days, but I definitely support books. Not just books, but reading too. Growing up as a fat kid*, I did not get out much. In fact, my best friend was the library, and I would pump through literature the way a fat kid could plow through a buffet line. (Disclaimers: Since I fully own up to growing up as a corpulent, obese, portly lad, I : A. am allowed to joke about being fat, and B. am fully aware of the voraciousness with which a fat kid can put a buffet owner out of business). My exposure to the world through reading actually inspired me to get out and be more active, turning me into the studly man beast I am today. And my vocabulary was augmented to distinguished levels. (I can use big words and stuff)

2. I hate to see anything wasted. Part of this stems from my dad being the world’s largest packrat. I don’t think he has parked his car in the garage since the late 1990’s. And no, “park his car in the garage” is not some clever euphemism, I literally mean he has too much stuff piled up in there to allow a vehicle to fit. I know, I know, obsessive hoarding is a disease, and I have fought hard to keep some semblance of order in my life; however, I did learn the value of not just trashing things, but to cherish real treasures. As they say, sharing is caring. And caring is good. Just yesterday, I mailed a box of my old Cds to a good friend who I know will appreciate the music. I don’t need them cluttering my life, I listen to nothing but iPod these days. Why didn’t I give him any books you might ask? Obviously, I give all my extra books to Better World Books

3. I love turning chaos into order. It’s a personal obsession, I know. But Tetris is my favorite video game of all time. What we do with books is kind of like Tetris:
We take books in random order and arrange them in such a way that they form straight lines(on our neatly arranged shelves)…and then they disappear! (when you buy them). Ahh, the magic of e-commerce.

I think 3 is enough points for now. I need to look into writing more features for the kids. My friend and colleague Chip has been a great writer on here, and he really wanted me to join him in his quest to bring more and more entertaining content here. Since today is his Birthday, I thought I would help him out. Have a good weekend everyone.

* I linked to the book “Matilda” here because the supporting character Bruce is one of the greatest fat kid characters of all time. I heart Bruce….
(I hope you all caught the joke of how I mocked the “I heart” nomenclature earlier, then blatantly used it here… trust me it is hilarious)

I wonder if I set a record for number of links within a post…

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