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From Deric Bownds' MindBlog, the Internet helping us with holiday party chit-chat, but be sure to follow-up your revelation of this tidbit from Paul Zak et al... with a discussion of FAVL. 

'Tis the season to be generous...but watch the testosterone A nice nugget from Zak et al: How do human beings decide when to be selfish or selfless? In this study, we gave testosterone to 25 men to establish its impact on prosocial behaviors in a double-blind within-subjects design. We also confirmed participants' testosterone levels before and after treatment through blood draws. Using the Ultimatum Game from behavioral economics, we find that men with artificially raised T, compared to themselves on placebo, were 27% less generous towards strangers with money they controlled. This effect scales with a man's level of total-, free-, and dihydro-testosterone (DHT). Men in the lowest decile of DHT were 560% more generous than men in the highest decile of DHT. We also found that men with elevated testosterone were more likely to use their own money punish those who were ungenerous toward them. Our results continue to hold after controlling for altruism. We conclude that elevated testosterone causes men to behave antisocially.

I just finished touring all the libraries and things are just AWESOME!  The librarians are really coming into their own, and it was so heartwarming to be sitting there in each library and watch a steady stream of kids come in with books to return and check out new books.

 I was helping a young boy (aged about 8 I would guess) pick out a book and we sort of read together a children's book and I said do you want to take it out? and he kind of shook his head no. "Too scary," I asked?  He nodded.  Then he picked out a book underneath it.  A children's picture flap-book of baby animals sleeping with their mothers, you lift the kangaroo flap to see the baby kangaroos in the pouch, or under the mother swan's wing.  "This one I like."

People are always asking for impact evaluation... it's hard for libraries, which have such diffuse impacts.  But it is hard for clean water, too, as this extract from a relatively recent article suggests:

What Works in Fighting Diarrheal Diseases in Developing Countries? A Critical Review -- Alix Peterson Zwane and Michael Kremer, The World Bank Research Observer, 2007, 10.

Because of the lack of evidence on effectiveness and the maintenance challenge, the case has not been made for prioritizing communal rural water infrastructure for fighting diarrheal disease. Investing in piped water and sanitation in areas where that is feasible and expanding the provision of standard child health interventions have both been shown to work. Finding ways to effectively promote handwashing and point-of-use water treatment also seems a priority. In some circumstances, there may be a strong case for investing in rural water infrastructure for other reasons, and in some environments such infrastructure may have important health benefits. But the case for prioritizing communal water infrastructure will need to be made rather than assumed.

In the village of Pobe-Mengao in northern Burkina Faso.... Emilie is a Peace Corps volunteer there.  She created a nice website here.  From the website is a photo of a building that they might refurbish for the library.  So... do we have a founding donor who wants to contribute $5,000 to kickstart a library for this community!?  

The link is here, will figure out how to embed soon...

FAVL friend Kim Dionne writes in:

Today, William Kamkwamba was interviewed by Diane Sawyer. I'm not sure if I had mentioned him to you before, but he is a rural Malawian who learned how to make a windmill by reading a couple of textbooks  available in a rural library. Since then, his story has been featured  in the Wall Street Journal and on TED. A book about his story is being released tomorrow, which is why he was in NY: to promote the book.  Anyways, I think it's a great story about the power of village libraries ...

p.s. some additional links:

Review by Ethan Zuckerman

Review by WhiteAfrican

As a college professor, students are always engaging me in discussions about what the better strategy is. Especially the ones going to law school. There are all kinds of maxims out there, and the only wisdom I feel I ever impart is for students to not be over-optimistic about their ability to retain their former self present in their future mind. And sometimes that former self might even be subject to insult by the future mind... "What were you thinking.. you were a total idiot!" I do tell the story of Andrew Carnegie, who as he saw that he was going to be capable of becoming very wealthy, wrote himself a letter to remind himself to give his fortune away and help the less fortunate. And that is what he did... though he postponed until he was well into older age. he sold out to J.P. Morgan and gave his fortune (though critics accuse of self-serving giving).

FAVLers and others passionate about helping kids read... a mystery in terms of how it fits into a coherent life philosophy.

I spent the last four days up in the Sierras at San Jose Family Camp (our city's socialized but market-priced camp site), blissfully reading Three Cups of Tea in between poker matches with kids, beautiful hikes with friends into the Hetch Hetchy/Yosemite watersheds... and lots of coffee (in socialism, bad coffee will be available for free in copious quantities, as long as policemen's pensions can be capped at under 95% of salary...that last strictly for San Jose insiders).

Anyways, odd that the two premier development blogs (Blattman and Easterly) apparently have never mentioned Mortenson (at least a search of the blogs was empty on both sites). Too bad, because it's a good book, with lots to discuss, and more importantly, is probably the single most widely read "tract" about development aid in the last decade, and so what it says, or does not say, is probably shaping the perceptions of millions of persons around the globe, far more than the development studies academics' wishy-washy "we don't know the answers" style.

So just so you know the book's main message: heroes are taking care of the problems, just like they always did. Sure, things were smelly in the Augean stables, but Hercules was ready! So here comes Mortenson, ready to tackle world poverty (one girl at a time^TM).

So I'll say up front that while I obviously find Mortenson's work and devotion and success very inspirational and fantastic and laudable, I find the book raises all kinds of interesting questions, and raising those questions will inevitably make me appear less laudable than Mortenson. But hell, I'm an academic and the whole schtick is to raise questions.

And questions to be raised, there are. Only two paragraphs in the 330 page book are "questioning," in the sense that they diverge from the standard 40-something-American "it's all good" refrain, and these deal with an important issue, non-profit governance. Otherwise there is nary a questioning attitude to be seen. Weird, cause the guy writing it is a journalist (David Oliver Relin, who keeps himself completely out of the text, but must have insisted on inserting two photos of himself that make no sense at all... the captions just use his last name, and for 2/3 of the book I thought the guy in the pictures was some Pakistani dude who would be introduced later on).

So we have a book about a hero. It's a thrilling book, but it brings to mind the Brecht line (yes, Michael Watts did influence my reading habits...) from his play Galileo: “ANDREA: Unhappy the land that has no heroes! . . . GALILEO: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.”

I could go into literary analysis- what is a hero and all that... but since this blog is about development and literacy, better to focus on that. Mortenson is basically doing what FAVL would have been doing if someone had given *us* a million dollars! So of course one can't help the sour grapes. But I do feel that gives me a rather unique perspective. Most people reading the book probably feel unqualified to be critical. They have never slept with a yak, nor befriended an authentic representative of "The Other"... Haji Ali. Of course, Haji Ali turns out to be Yoda, a very nice, reasonably wise uncle figure prone to platitudes about listening to the wind. Anecdotes and trials and tribulations are played to maximum effect... and some are downright bizarre- Mortenson's "bodyguard" beats up someone leering at his wife breastfeeding. A Pakistani general cowboying around with Mortenson in a helicopter buzzes "like an angry bee" the compound of some local chief who's fallen afoul of Mortenson. These anecdotes, and much of the book, serve to make clear to the reader that there are good guys (hero allies) and bad guys (hero enemies) and the hero can tell the difference (loyalty... everyone is ready to "give their life for Mortenson") except when the hero is tricked. Oops, no more literary analysis!

One more aside. My overall impression is that Relin was more interested in name-dropping mountaineers killed here and there than Pakistanis or Afghans killed during the various stages of the wars in the region. The brand-name turn in American literature is there, instead of riding around in an "old helicopter" it has to be an Alouettte. Instead of wearing an "old parka," he has to give the brand name. I confess I never understood the reader interest inknowing the brands of their book-characters, but then again, I wear a cheap watch, cheap pants, and cheap shoes.

As you can see, I am meandering around my thoughts, and it is now late, so I'll come back to the development and literacy stuff tomorrow.

Received from Burkina Faso...

A toute personne qui me lira, je voudrais qu’elle sache que tout en accomplissant ce rédigé j’en suis de cœur. Oui pour un rat de la bibliothèque préparant munitieusement mon prochain roman de lui-même sur l’apologie de la lecture, imaginez l’intensité de joie quand on lui permet d’en faire l’exégèse …
A priori, je tiens hermétiquement voir consciencieusement à orienter mon salut si modeste soit_ il à l’endroit de tous les acteurs en patrouille de culture, d’éducation et…Et quoi de plus émérite ! Puisque tous nous savions ce qu’il faut à celui qu ‘il faut : à la bibliothèque de villageoise reconnaissance et haute assistance.
Bibliothèque de BEREBA ,moi je tiens en tant que celui qui est en train d’écrire, je suis en long et en large redevable très redevable et redevable encore. Je sais cependant qu ‘à travers une telle subjectivité l’on serait allé jusqu’à croire que je projette à me faire plaire tel un poète. Pour toute réalité donc, je ne suis naturellement pas celui qui rit quand il fallait le cri de détresse, simplement parce que l’on m’a intimidé d’une force physique ou d’une arme me dépassant. Non ! Et non ! Il me déplait à moi de jeter des fleurs à ce qu’il ne convient car cela en serait de gratuité. Quoi qu’on dise et quoi qu’on blasphème, la bibliothèque elle, mérite à bravoure, à vaillance sa fleur honorablement étoffée.
Eh ! Mon lecteur, daigne m’excuser si je te suis trop prolixe, oui instinctivement j’aime à ergoter. C’est pour dire que tout ce dont j’ai proféré n’est qu’introductif du vif que je vais aussitôt entamer juste après ce paragraphe.
Tout est parti du cours moyen première année quand je faisais la connaissance de ce réseau de cultures mondiales à quoi l’on attribue le substantif de¨ BIBLIOTHEQUE.C’est donc à de l’année 2001 suite sur l’initiative de mon père aussi imprégné de la chose, jusqu’à l’heure actuelle et comme quitte à ce que je rende l’âme, que la largesse, la bienséance, la positivité de cette bibliothèque villageoise consistera à nourrir ma personne physique, à enrichir ma personne idéaliste à éclairer mon sens moral et à débroussailler ma grande voie spirituelle des dérives sociales en un mot elle m’a achevé d’être ce qu’; dieu veut en effet de par mes interminables lectures que de chose que j’ai découvertes !! Trop de grand personnage que j’ai enfin connu à l’interposition ; des bons nombres de philosophe emblématiques à qui personnellement je m’identifie dans le quotidien.
En ce qui concerne le volet étude ; par toutes les classes que j’ai passé moi me suivent toujours singularisé de part par distinction de lecteur, et pour cela des professeurs m’approuvaient admirablement à la différence des autres. A cet effet j’ai fini par entraîner toute une vague de camarades dans la lecture et quand il en était ainsi jante sentait fier d’entre imité.
A toute situation d’entretien scolaire ou de vie courante je viens toujours par-dessus non pas seulement par la pertinence de mes idées mais aussi par le rayonnement d’un langage appris et acquit et quant éventuellement on m’en exhorte, cela ne m’étonne aucunement puisque je sais pourquoi ceci : c’est simplement et purement légué par la bibliothèque et qui parle.
Un autre fondement est ludique : Relativement à ma typologie artistique en tant que prétentieux musicien j’ai des textes exclusifs parce que poétiques ; et qui parle de poésie cite alors la liberté d’expression d’individus !
C’est ainsi que les bienfaits de la lecture ont contribué dans mon engagement de la lutte contre l’impunité, la corruption en toutes ces dimensions. Socialement, mon souci majeur est de nécessairement passer par la voie des sans voix si réellement ces milliers d’ouvrages nous ont révélé une triste réalité de l’homme, des peuples assaillis par des boucheries de guerre, des masses impitoyablement malmenés de famines. Tous ces propos que j’avance n’ont rien d’utopique ; ils émanent des écrits réalistes issus de bibliothèque et je crois aussi n’avoir exacerbé rien. Des preuves tout à fait abonderont quand il s’agira de prôner l’adhésion impérative à la bibliothèque villageoise de BEREBA pour celui comme moi qui ai été dans trois 3 provinces du pays aussi dotées chacune d’une bibliothèque aérée que celle en comparaison. Chers amis ne vous en faites point car l’originalité de ces bibliothèques aérées réside seulement dans le fait qu’elles sont simplement vastes de construction mais si, matériellement notre bibliothèque l’emporte de par ces tas infinis, et diversifiés de tous les genres littéraires, c’est dire qu’en premier lieu, la notre ont bel et bien droit de citer
Avançons cependant qu’en dépit du succès retentissant qu’offre la dite bibliothèque, elle présente aussi bien des sentiers auxquels vous et nous devrions nous atteler en vue des perspectives plus larges pour une meilleure approche de la structure. Je voudrais croire qu’une vulgarisation de cette utilité de culture, nécessite le dévouement de tous à savoir le personnel siégeant à la localité, le lecteur, le parent concerné.
Nous aurions à nous affairer à des projets pour peu qu’ils traitent du maintien et répondent aux éventuelles aspirations.
Alors un vif souhait mais latent est de renchérir la prépondérante d’une fameuse bibliothèque développée pour s’entre transformée en un centre culturel ou instruit et analphabètes peuvent se cotonner et se donner mutuellement des idées.
Je suis d’autant convaincu qu’une bibliothèque de cette carrure plantée à BEREBA, ce serait la pêche ou le marigot refusera du monde en raison de l’excédent des adhérents.
En attendant, moi je vous prête serment pour ma part de contribution à la réédification de cette bibliothèque témoignant de tout mon être.
Oui ! Tôt ou tard ! Salut !
Kourage à SEKOUer