The purpose of Beautiful Books is to promote and celebrate beautiful art. We want to remind each other that culture can lift and inspire, inform and transform. Goodness, beauty and truth exist. Let’s join together to rediscover what this is.

We are simply offering basic principles of meaningful art – not providing a list of works that we condemn or commend. That will always be subjective, and should be entirely up to individuals. Our goal is simply to provide a public forum for the shared attempt at discovering meaningful art.

We seek only obvious, self-evident principles that anyone would agree to. We invite all to contribute any piece they think meets these principles.

Beautiful Books is a counterpart to Banned Books. Instead of selecting works because they had been banned, Beautiful Books has readings, discussion and performances of works that are considered beautiful by members.

Beautiful Books supports works of art that express the deeper dimensions of our humanity. There is no limit to beauty, in the natural world, or even, potentially, in society. But beauty is adrift, under assault, in need of a friend. Let us be a friend to beauty. Freedom of the expression of ideas is always valid, but we also need to know what is especially worthy of being expressed.

By joining the steps below members can help plan and stage the very first Beautiful Books event. In addition they can use Visionary Society Challenges and Requests to encourage wider participation and awareness. Hopefully this will become an annual occurrence and grow to multiple locations.

There should be a central location for the event, possibly at the public library. There could also be a gathering in the main city public square, and secondary events in cafes and theaters. In addition to public readings and performances, we present Challenges and Requests: a way for individuals and businesses to make significant choices to bring meaningful culture into the world.

We’re looking for a Guide for this Proposal. A stipend for volunteers ($100 - $250) is available.
Application