Zuckerberg Takes a Page From Oprah's Book Club

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is just like us! He challenges himself to New Year's resolutions, and I have to admit, his is a pretty good one. For 2015, Zuckerberg's A Year of Books Facebook page will be devoted to his new Facebook book club as he resolves to read a different book every two weeks. Fans and readers can Like his page to read along with him and discuss the book in a post's comments.

The first post on his A Year of Books page lays down the ground rules:

We will read a new book every two weeks and discuss it here. Our books will emphasize learning about new cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies. Suggestions for new books to read are always welcome. We ask that everyone who participates read the books and we will moderate the discussions and group membership to keep us on topic.

(Just a note, Mark: Have you even been on Facebook? Because that last sentiment — the staying on topic part — might be a touch difficult. Just saying.)

"I'm excited for my reading challenge," Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his personal page. "I've found reading books very intellectually fulfilling. Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today. I'm looking forward to shifting more of my media diet towards reading books."

Zuckerberg's first book selection is 2013's The End of Power by Moisés Naím, and he explains his reasoning in a Facebook post:

It's a book that explores how the world is shifting to give individual people more power that was traditionally only held by large governments, militaries and other organizations. The trend towards giving people more power is one I believe in deeply, and I'm looking forward to reading this book and exploring this in more detail.

Although Zuckerberg hasn't released the titles of any upcoming book club selections, his book Likes give some insight on where he's already spent a lot of his reading time. He's got everything from American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham, to Jay-Z's book Decoded, to YA and children's books — Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, respectively.

We all know that Oprah perfected the game when it comes to book clubs-turned-books flying off every bookstore shelf in the country, and I'm not about to bet that Zuckerberg will top her. However, The End of Power is listed as "temporarily out of stock" on Amazon, and TechCruch noted that it was available prior to Zuckerberg's book club announcement. So, point: Zuckerberg, though really, anything that gets people excited about reading is really a point for everyone.

Image: Giphy