Zuckerberg sets up Facebook book club

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has set up a book club on the social networking site, attracting more than 120,000 likes in three days.The paperback of the club’s first book, The End of Power by Moises Naim from Perseus imprint Basic Books, is showing as temporarily out of stock on both Amazon.co.uk  and Amazon.com.The 'A Year in Books page'on Facebook, set up by Zuckerberg for the book club and which has more than 124,000 likes, says: “We will read a new book every two weeks and discuss it here. Our books will emphasise 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.”

Every year Zuckerberg sets himself a challenge for the 12 months ahead. Previous challenges have included learning Mandarin and meeting a new person every day.In 2015, following a post asking Facebook users to suggest challenges, Zuckerberg will read a new book every other week.Writing on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg said: “I'm excited for my reading challenge. 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.”

Describing The End of Power, Zuckerberg said: “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 organisations. 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.”

In September 2014, the latest period for which statistics are available, Facebook had 864m daily active users on average.Zuckerberg joins well-known names including Oprah Winfrey and, in the UK, Richard and Judy, in launching a book club.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. You can still buy´The End of Power´on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

b. Facebook members are allowed to recommend new book titles.

c. Zuckerberg has a very positive attitude about the reading challenge.

d. The most recent statistics for Facebook show that it has a total of 864m members.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What challenges has Mark Zuckerberg set himself this year and in previous years?

b. What is the book 'The End of Power' about?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. establish (paragraph 1)    b.not available (paragraph 1)c. Test (paragraph 2)

d. satisfying(paragraph 2)    e. start(paragraph 4 )

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. Mark Zuckerberg has set up a book club on the social networking site.

A book club......

b. Mark Zuckerberg said, “We ask that everyone who participates read the books and we will moderate the discussions and group membership to keep us on topic.”

Mark Zuckerberg said that.....

c. “Why don't we recommend a book for the book club?” said John.

John suggested..........

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of taking part in a book club?