The Better World Book Kickstarter (May 2019)

the chemerical trailer




And the podcast review:

https://permies.com/wiki/28744/Podcast-Review-Chemerical

Maybe we should include this video in today's update:

We had a tricky question

can I pledge on the 25$ tier but pay 100$ if I want just 2 books but still get all the stretch goals of the 100$ tier?

So shawn and I spent about half an hour figuring out the answer:

Clever!

That international shipping is brutal.  At the $25 level the shipping is $30 and at the $100 level the shipping is $75.  

One of the things that might not be obvious is that for the $100 level there is double shipping.  One charge for shipping books that we had printed, one at a time, in europe (or australia) and one charge for shipping the signed book from the US.   So now we are looking at $30 twice.  $60.  

The next thing is that we set the prices super duper low because we process everything en masse.   What you are suggesting is that after all of the en masse stuff is done, we process your stuff manually.   And I have to say that doing stuff manually takes a LOT of time.  Suddenly all this stuff is …  well … we clearly did not charge enough.  

Plus, if the clever european paid $130 and the “follow the rules” european paid $175, I think it is critically important that we make things as fair as possible.   So we must require the first person to send over the $45 to make things fair.  

BUT!  Check this out!   Shawn has come up with a totally legit clever thing that is respectful to everybody and everything gets processed properly en masse!    With two credit cards, buy stuff at the $25 with one (selecting your proper shipping destination), and then buy stuff at the $100 level with the other (selecting “virgin islands” for shipping).   You actually end up with two extra books and double the stuff at the $1 and $5 levels.  And you saved $20!  (but you don’t get a signed copy - something that always seemed a bit weird to me anyway)

Please don't intentionally make more work for us.  

$106,261!






Click here to go to the kickstarter!

Add one more pledger to the count!!

$106,446

Im in. Hope its in Kindle format :)

We just added the following to the FAQ:

Q: Some of the stretch goals are for a limited number of people. How do you decide who gets them?

A: After the kickstarter is over, we will send an update to all of the backers. It will say something like “if you wish to be considered for this thing, please send an email to…” And then we will take a look at all of the people who want in and select the ones who have put in the most monies.  For some things there might be 200 people that want the thing, so only the highest backers will get the thing.  And for other things there might only be 4 people that want the thing - so even $1 backers might get the thing.

$108,045!

I recently watched the Chemerical documentary from my library. At first I thought it seemed a little too basic and the family kind of annoyed me. I thought they might be kind of dumb, high strung, and overly conventional even compared to the rest of middle America. But by the end, not only did they seem to have gotten brighter and less whiny, but especially the mom’s emotional balance was much improved. I suspect that some of this was due to the toxin load they eliminated. This is speculation, but I suspect that the hormonal effects of many toxic household substances effect women disproportionately, due to reasons of biology and increased exposure, and this may explain a portion of the stress and unhappiness and exhaustion that I see in a lot of stay at home moms. Also, stuff from this documentary convinced my own mom to buckle down on eliminating the last of the toxic products she uses.

Good point Jennifer!  I couldn't even get through the trailer.  I'm glad the full movie is good.

Jennifer Richardson wrote:I recently watched the Chemerical documentary from my library. At first I thought it seemed a little too basic and the family kind of annoyed me. I thought they might be kind of dumb, high strung, and overly conventional even compared to the rest of middle America. But by the end, not only did they seem to have gotten brighter and less whiny, but especially the mom’s emotional balance was much improved. I suspect that some of this was due to the toxin load they eliminated. This is speculation, but I suspect that the hormonal effects of many toxic household substances effect women disproportionately, due to reasons of biology and increased exposure, and this may explain a portion of the stress and unhappiness and exhaustion that I see in a lot of stay at home moms. Also, stuff from this documentary convinced my own mom to buckle down on eliminating the last of the toxic products she uses.

Yes I have seen it as well. The family was at times so annoying and whiny that it was irritating. But the more I thought about it, it is not far off from families I know. So many just want what they want and they want it right NOW!  They don't want to be inconvenienced or really have to think about the choices they make.  Just do the least possible to get by.  We are all guilty of that at times. That said, it really shows just what the typical family has in there home that is so toxic and we never even consider what it is doing to us.  I think you are right about the effect it had on the Mom and really all of them.  By the end they were really starting to get it.   And it made them THINK about their choices over all.   We are bombarded constantly with, buy this buy that, companies are so good at convincing people that we need this  product to survive, or it will make ones life soooo much easier.   A few years ago I stopped using any cleaning product that was not natural. Including body products, most I make myself now.  I never used all that much because of having so many allergies to things, but it has made such a difference since I stop using them. Even the so called "allergy" free products are awful.  And we don't NEED any of it!! I am really glad this is a stretch goal. I hope it helps others realize what they are putting into their bodies, and how we have been programed to think we can't live without them.  

$109,005!

I was wondering how many new people have back the kickstarter this week?
How many have up their pledge? And how much has pledge amount increased?
I have lost track.
It is awesome that it keeps growing at such a fast pace!!!

$110,156!

Lyda Eagle wrote:I was wondering how many new people have back the kickstarter this week?
How many have up their pledge? And how much has pledge amount increased?
I have lost track.
It is awesome that it keeps growing at such a fast pace!!!

Lyda, this might have answers for most of your questions.  I look on this about six times a day for similar answers.

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/paulwheaton/better-world-book/#chart-daily

So, if I might as a question being pretty new to this Kickstarter stuff... I assume that the different books at stretch levels will be ebooks? Like the one on natural swimming pools, cleaner you can eat, etc, correct? If so, not being a super techy guy (almost 50 and I prefer paper books or audiobooks!), how should I best prepare for these books? I’ve got a desktop at home but don’t usually have much time to sit around and read for pleasure on it... I have a 5 year old, slow 10” tablet (Android), and an iPhone 7+ that I use for work and usually have around me somewhere.

I’ve used Vimeo before, for some of Stephen Harris’ stuff, but, any other programs I should signup for now, or will one code work on all my devices, or...?

Help please! 😜😂 I want to make sure I am ready to download, read, etc. All of it!

paul wheaton wrote:

Lyda Eagle wrote:I was wondering how many new people have back the kickstarter this week?
How many have up their pledge? And how much has pledge amount increased?
I have lost track.
It is awesome that it keeps growing at such a fast pace!!!

Lyda, this might have answers for most of your questions.  I look on this about six times a day for similar answers.

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/paulwheaton/better-world-book/#chart-daily

That's so cool to see it laid out like that.  
And wow, what a boost in the past few days. I like watching the the count fly by.
I think I am addicted to seeing it go up, I keep checking it on/off all day. lol
Thanks for posting the link :-)
Go Permies!!!

Next up:

For those interested in more details on the next stretch goal, Paul just wrote this:

Here is my attempt to describe these four books for this stretch goal level.  Since you are backing a kickstarter for a book, you might appreciate some extra words in telling you about more words!  :)


The Hugelkultur Book

22 chapters.  Only one chapter is empty.  The rest are pretty complete.

Table of Contents

1. Hugelkultur in a Nutshell
2. Permaculture Edge vs. Homogenized Gardens/Farms
3. Homogenous Insides and Edge
4. Good Wood vs. Bad Wood
5. Other Materials for the Innards
6. Mulching and Steep Sides
7. Extending the Cold Climate Growing Season
8. Recipes: Track Hoes vs. Shovels
9. Areas with Lots of Wind
10. Chicken, Cattle and Pigs
11. Transplanting vs. Direct Seed
12. Till vs. No Till
13. Polyculture
14. Weeds?
15. Chop and Drop
16. Organic vs. Permaculture
17. Eliminating Irrigation
18. What to Plant
19. What Will the Neighbors Think?
20. Tefa: Textured Earth, Food All Year
21. Swales and Terraces
22. The First Year


The Fallacy Book

Fallacy is “Deceptive Argument”.  This is powerfully relevant to community as well as my past life as a “fixer” software engineer.  It is also rooted in over 30 years of managing online communities.  After a while, you get quite used to seeing fallacy, and you develop some clever tricks on how to sidestep fallacy.  

The funny thing is that this book lists 21 fallacies.  I started writing the book with the idea of observing when the fallacy happens and possible responses (high road and low road).   And then a twisted thought occurred to me ….

The reason why fallacy is an issue, is because nearly all people are grossly susceptible to it.   Another way of putting it is to call it a “jedi mind trick”.  

As an example, if somebody asks you “wanna go to the movies” and you say “no”.   Then the jedi mind trick is deployed “aw, c’mon!” ….   “well, okay.”   What the hell just happened?  How is “aw c’mon” persuasive?  This has to be the weakest fallacy of the list, but for some bizarre reason nearly all human beings fall for it!  

… back to the twisted thought …    the book lists all these fallacies and how to respond.  But what if somebody picked up the book and read the books for the sake of ABUSING people by learning about fallacy?  So then I was conflicted with the idea of putting the book out there so that awful people could be awful-er.  No!

And then I added another twist to that twist:   What if I wrote the book in a funny way so it could be used in both ways.   As an offense and a defense.  

I wrote to a friend a few years ago:  I got the idea of overhauling the book to be …  better.  Far better.  Far funnier.   As time passed, I got the idea that the new stuff was a bit over the top and I think I've settled on a space in between.  I wanted it to be (supposedly) by Dr. Edmund V. Ingle-Love.  He just goes by Dr. Love.  But note how his initials spell out EVIL.  And his organization would be HEART, Inc.  (Hugely Evil and Really Terrible).   The root of the book
would be that it would be an internal document on how to sucker people into going along with HEART's mission(s), but that these things were not to be used internally.  And attempting to use these techniques on Dr. Love could lead to termination (which has more than one meaning).

For each fallacy, there are two examples.  One example is where people are trying to persuade a school board to allow a school garden.    The other example is in a software engineering meeting where the group is attempting to select a database brand.   So the fallacy of the chapter is inserted into both scenarios and possible responses are explored.

The 21 chapters are:

Abuse (ad Hominem Fallacy)
Analogy (False Analogy Fallacy)
Anecdote
Bulldozing
Burden of Proof
Changing the Subject
Compromise
Decency (Prejudicial Fallacy)
Distraction (Red Herring Fallacy)
Fear
Giggles
"Hasty Conclusion"
Inflation (Slippery Slope Fallacy)
Limited Options (False Dilemma)
Opinion as Fact
Persistence (ad Nauseum Fallacy)
Profanity
Pseudo-Leadership (Pseudo-Boss)
Straw Man (Straw Man Fallacy)
Volume (Appeal to Force Fallacy)
Vote (Bandwagon Fallacy)





The Kickstarter Book

About a year ago I started taking heaps of notes on my kickstarter stuff.   I already did a breakdown on all of the stuff I did in 2018 in an attempt to provide some guidance with this year’s kickstarter.  I also started a kickstarter diary.   There’s currently more than 60 pages.

It opens with “every time a kickstarter is funded, a douchebag banker gets a kick in the nuts”

I talk about the many times people have asked me for advice.  I talk about the kickstarters that I see fail.   I talk about the hard work that happens before the kickstarter and every day during the kickstarter.  

Shawn read a whole bunch of kickstarter books before we started, and he says that just my 2018 summary is better than any of those books.  




The Community Book

I call it “permaculture thorns”.

The opening:

One possible definition of permaculture is the attempt to solve all of the world’s problems in your own home and yard.  If you can do it, surely others can - and billions of people want to!

And if the solutions lead to an even more luxuriant life, then it makes sense that, in time, everybody would want to do it.  

This book is a feeble attempt to convey the massive storm of thinky-bits that are in my head.  I have several other books I am working on that I enjoy writing and people will (I think) enjoy reading.  This, on the other hand, is a book that I couldn’t seem to stop myself from writing, and I suspect that it will be of interest to just a few people.  Because it covers a topic that nearly everybody thinks is simple and obvious and there is nothing, really, to say.  And, even if there is something to be said, nearly everybody would prefer to hear it from somebody far lovelier than this particular giant doofus in overalls.

More deets

Another possible title could be “20 people living under one roof without stabbing each other”.  

Lots and lots of stories.  Lots  of experiments.   My time on the board of the community incubatore.   Experiences with consensus.   Experiences with on-line communities.  Experiences with living in community.   The dozens of intentional communities I visited.  The community workshops I took.  My friendship with Diana Leaf Christian.  

Hate-in-the-name-of-love.   540 plates of food.  Breakfast with Spiderman.  Sepp Holzer and community.  Founder’s Syndrome.  The independent thought / consensus / dictator hybrid.  The 20 month party.   The story of Jerry.  Spoon Theory. All of human history and 95% of human psychology - obey or else.  The stove is hot.  Five gorillas and one banana.  Did you just should on me?  Be a dick.  Science vs. "science" - and "engineering" too.   Common sense isn’t.  Obligation is poison.  Gardening Gardeners encourages gardeners gardening.  Purple permaculture vs. brown permaculture.  HUSP.  Bulldozer bumper cars.  The monsignor.  The pig bucket problem.  small disrespects will ALWAYS grow into large disrespects.  Squishy math.  The root of all conflict is a difference in knowledge set.

This book is a huge gob of attempts to build community.  By no means is it a clear “how to”.  This is more like …   a foundation for an attempt to build a certain flavor of community.  

Leif Ing wrote:So, if I might as a question being pretty new to this Kickstarter stuff... I assume that the different books at stretch levels will be ebooks? Like the one on natural swimming pools, cleaner you can eat, etc, correct? If so, not being a super techy guy (almost 50 and I prefer paper books or audiobooks!), how should I best prepare for these books?[..]

I’ve used Vimeo before, for some of Stephen Harris’ stuff, but, any other programs I should signup for now, or will one code work on all my devices, or...?

Help please! 😜😂 I want to make sure I am ready to download, read, etc. All of it!

All of the stretch goal books are ebooks. We are still sorting out the details on formats. Right now we're trying to make it through the next 48 hours with a pulse.

We have to get to 115,000!
I want to read these books
They sound great!
I have wanted to know more about Hugelkultur since I first heard you mention it.
I know the basics, but this sounds really informative.

Not sure I will ever do a kickstarter, never say never though
and knowing how it all works would be really helpful.

I know we need to work with our Communities
I need to read this because I am basically a hermit.
I can go weeks without being around people and be fine.
And the older I get the less tolerant I am.
Not that I am mean, I just get tired of bullshit and narrow minded views.
Or someone trying to tell me what to do. "You must do it this way!!!"
Doesn't work well with me. So yeah, guess I need to read this. lol

The Fallacy sounds great.
"And then I added another twist to that twist:  
What if I wrote the book in a funny way so it could be used in both ways.   As an offense and a defense."  LOL

Of course all the stretch goals are great.
I want them all lol

$111,019!

Paul/Shawn,
I backed this project on the very 1st day, i think was like #50 or so, because I fully support this, but also because I got interested in the extra goodies for people who supported in the first 48hrs was the extra deal right?

Now ...the 100$ level just got too good, so I'll be upgrading to 100$ level .. question is ... .. does KS knows or lets you guys now that I actually backed the project on the first day, thus qualifying me for those extra goodies , or would I show up in your reports as backing project just now an would be loosing those extra stuff?

thks

Carlos Gomezvelandia wrote:Paul/Shawn,
I backed this project on the very 1st day, i think was like #50 or so, because I fully support this, but also because I got interested in the extra goodies for people who supported in the first 48hrs was the extra deal right?

Now ...the 100$ level just got too good, so I'll be upgrading to 100$ level .. question is ... .. does KS knows or lets you guys now that I actually backed the project on the first day, thus qualifying me for those extra goodies , or would I show up in your reports as backing project just now an would be loosing those extra stuff?

thks

Hi Carlos, I think we looked into it and you should be good to go! So long as you are adjusting your backer level you are still #50 (or so).

paul wheaton wrote:

BUT!  Check this out!   Shawn has come up with a totally legit clever thing that is respectful to everybody and everything gets processed properly en masse!    With two credit cards, buy stuff at the $25 with one (selecting your proper shipping destination), and then buy stuff at the $100 level with the other (selecting “virgin islands” for shipping).   You actually end up with two extra books and double the stuff at the $1 and $5 levels.  And you saved $20!  (but you don’t get a signed copy - something that always seemed a bit weird to me anyway)

I don't  have 2 credit cards, but  I do have 2 emails.
And I  did use them to have 2 Kickstarter accounts one time, for ... reasons. Paid with my single credit card.

Yours is a good enough work around but can we find another solution for next time?
Like, pay full shipping but get a Permies gift certificate for the unused portion. Maybe in the fom of PIE that can be exchanged with other Permies.

Joe chiarelli wrote:Add one more pledger to the count!!

$106,446

Im in. Hope its in Kindle format :)

Would it be easy to give multi format options?
When the people redeem their gift code, the digital market asks them which format they prefer.

And on that note: where are people holding there gift codes? I leave mine in the email where they arrived, but that seems risky.

Amazing!!

Rudy Valvano wrote:

And on that note: where are people holding there gift codes? I leave mine in the email where they arrived, but that seems risky.

Rudy, I'm just guessing on this as I don't actually have any gift codes, but from the last kickstarter that supported as well I got access to a ton of great digital stuff.  At first I was saving it in the email, wondering how long until I lost it.  Then I realized that if I clicked on the "my stuff" button at the top of the permies forums page it would take me to a page with all my stuff.  I'm betting gift codes will be there.  Of course someone who really knows should probably confirm this. :)

David Huang wrote:

Rudy Valvano wrote:

And on that note: where are people holding there gift codes? I leave mine in the email where they arrived, but that seems risky.

Rudy, I'm just guessing on this as I don't actually have any gift codes, but from the last kickstarter that supported as well I got access to a ton of great digital stuff.  At first I was saving it in the email, wondering how long until I lost it.  Then I realized that if I clicked on the "my stuff" button at the top of the permies forums page it would take me to a page with all my stuff.  I'm betting gift codes will be there.  Of course someone who really knows should probably confirm this. :)

That would be a great idea, but I  dont see them in MyStuff.

Rudy, when you look at My Stuff, is there a spot that says "DM threads - gifts I manage"?  If so, that's where they should be.

$113,055!

Mike Jay wrote:Rudy, when you look at My Stuff, is there a spot that says "DM threads - gifts I manage"?  If so, that's where they should be.

Mine only shows the first 5 tabs.
Maybe my gift codes where sent before this option was activated.
I'll check again after this kickstarter ends.
And I still have my original gift codes in my email archive for now. Thanks everyone

$114,205!

Rudy Valvano wrote:Mine only shows the first 5 tabs.
Maybe my gift codes where sent before this option was activated.

That is a possibility. May I know when you received the email with gift codes?

Next up:

Devaka Cooray wrote:

Rudy Valvano wrote:Mine only shows the first 5 tabs.
Maybe my gift codes where sent before this option was activated.

That is a possibility. May I know when you received the email with gift codes?

Nov 2018, from the Rocket Oven Kickstarter.

Rudy Valvano wrote:Nov 2018, from the Rocket Oven Kickstarter.

That would explain it. The feature to show gift codes on "my stuff" was implemented on December 16, 2018.

paul wheaton wrote:We had a tricky question

can I pledge on the 25$ tier but pay 100$ if I want just 2 books but still get all the stretch goals of the 100$ tier?

Clever!

That international shipping is brutal.  At the $25 level the shipping is $30 and at the $100 level the shipping is $75.  

One of the things that might not be obvious is that for the $100 level there is double shipping.  One charge for shipping books that we had printed, one at a time, in europe (or australia) and one charge for shipping the signed book from the US.   So now we are looking at $30 twice.  $60.  

Please don't intentionally make more work for us.  

That's such a large expense this stretch goal has placed on you. I wonder if the publisher can send you just the book covers for signing. Then you send them back for binding.
I just cringe at money being diverted from important projects on The Lab.

$116,275!

Rudy Valvano wrote:That's such a large expense this stretch goal has placed on you. I wonder if the publisher can send you just the book covers for signing. Then you send them back for binding.
I just cringe at money being diverted from important projects on The Lab.

The trick is that the major expense is not in shipping the books to Paul. I'm driving them to him. The big expense is shipping that signed copy across the ocean. The unsigned copies will be printed one at a time overseas. And there is no way to get those ones signed.