The thing that makes me more optimistic here is that the organizers of IMO and EGMO themselves have read HPMoR, and that the books are (as far as I understand it) handed out as part of the prize-package of IMO and EGMO.
I think this makes it more natural to award a large significant-seeming prize, and also comes with a strong encouragement to actually give the books a try.
My model is that only awarding the first book would feel a lot less significant, and my current models of human psychology suggests that while it is the case that some people will feel intimidated by the length of the book, the combined effect of being given a much smaller-seeming gift plus the inconvenience of having to send an email or fill out a form or go to a website to continue reading the book is larger than the effect of the size of the book being overwhelming.
The other thing that having full physical copies enables is book-lending. I printed a full copy of HPMoR a few years ago and have borrowed it out to at least 5 people, maybe one of which would have read the book if I had just sent them a link or just borrowed them the first few chapters (I have given out the small booklets and generally had less success at that than loaning parts of my whole printed book series).
However, I am not super confident of this, and the tradeoff strikes me as relatively close. I yesterday also had a longer conversation about this on the EA-Corner discord and after chatting with me for a while a lot of people seemed to think that giving out the whole book was a better idea, but it did take a while, which is some evidence of inferential distance.
That all makes sense. In principle I like the idea of trying both options at some point, in case one turns out to be obviously better. I do think that splitting things up into 6 books is better than 4, cost allowing, so that the first effort chunk feels smaller.
Oliver, Rob, and others thank you for your thoughts. 1. I don’t think that experimenting with the variants is an option for EGMO [severe time constraints]. 2. For IMO we have more than enough time, and I will incorporate the feedback and considerations into my decision-making.
Food for thought: just in thinking how to maximize the value of experimenting with distribution; an alternative approach would be to print the first book and distribute to the math olympiads then invest the rest of the money into converting HPMOR into a podcast/audiobook that can be shared more widely and outlining a “next steps” resource to guide readers. If distributing the books fails (depending on your definition of distribution being a “success”) you avoid sinking $28k into books sitting on shelves at home and now have a widely available podcast (to access for free or a small donation) that can increase HPMOR’s reach over time. (FYI the funds raised through small donations for access could be used to sponsor future printings for youth competitions).
A podcast or a revamped online version becomes a renewable resource, whereas once those books are distributed, they (and the money) are gone. For those interested, the model that comes to mind is HP and the Sacred Text. Using Harry Potter to convey certain ideas or messages is not uncommon given its global reach. HPST is using it for different reasons obviously but HOW they are distributing the idea might be worth pursing with HPMOR too. HP Alliance is another group using HP to convey a message (their focus is on political and social activism). HPMOR could have greater value long-term if there were alternative methods for accessing it beyond a 2000 page series.
This is great, thank you! Surprised I haven’t stumbled across this before… Even better if it’s already an available resource, it seems worth sharing with the IMO students and other relevant groups (which was the essence of my suggestion above).
The thing that makes me more optimistic here is that the organizers of IMO and EGMO themselves have read HPMoR, and that the books are (as far as I understand it) handed out as part of the prize-package of IMO and EGMO.
I think this makes it more natural to award a large significant-seeming prize, and also comes with a strong encouragement to actually give the books a try.
My model is that only awarding the first book would feel a lot less significant, and my current models of human psychology suggests that while it is the case that some people will feel intimidated by the length of the book, the combined effect of being given a much smaller-seeming gift plus the inconvenience of having to send an email or fill out a form or go to a website to continue reading the book is larger than the effect of the size of the book being overwhelming.
The other thing that having full physical copies enables is book-lending. I printed a full copy of HPMoR a few years ago and have borrowed it out to at least 5 people, maybe one of which would have read the book if I had just sent them a link or just borrowed them the first few chapters (I have given out the small booklets and generally had less success at that than loaning parts of my whole printed book series).
However, I am not super confident of this, and the tradeoff strikes me as relatively close. I yesterday also had a longer conversation about this on the EA-Corner discord and after chatting with me for a while a lot of people seemed to think that giving out the whole book was a better idea, but it did take a while, which is some evidence of inferential distance.
That all makes sense. In principle I like the idea of trying both options at some point, in case one turns out to be obviously better. I do think that splitting things up into 6 books is better than 4, cost allowing, so that the first effort chunk feels smaller.
I do agree with that, and this also establishes a canonical way of breaking the books up into parts. @Misha: Do you think that’s an option?
Oliver, Rob, and others thank you for your thoughts.
1. I don’t think that experimenting with the variants is an option for EGMO [severe time constraints].
2. For IMO we have more than enough time, and I will incorporate the feedback and considerations into my decision-making.
Food for thought: just in thinking how to maximize the value of experimenting with distribution; an alternative approach would be to print the first book and distribute to the math olympiads then invest the rest of the money into converting HPMOR into a podcast/audiobook that can be shared more widely and outlining a “next steps” resource to guide readers. If distributing the books fails (depending on your definition of distribution being a “success”) you avoid sinking $28k into books sitting on shelves at home and now have a widely available podcast (to access for free or a small donation) that can increase HPMOR’s reach over time. (FYI the funds raised through small donations for access could be used to sponsor future printings for youth competitions).
A podcast or a revamped online version becomes a renewable resource, whereas once those books are distributed, they (and the money) are gone. For those interested, the model that comes to mind is HP and the Sacred Text. Using Harry Potter to convey certain ideas or messages is not uncommon given its global reach. HPST is using it for different reasons obviously but HOW they are distributing the idea might be worth pursing with HPMOR too. HP Alliance is another group using HP to convey a message (their focus is on political and social activism). HPMOR could have greater value long-term if there were alternative methods for accessing it beyond a 2000 page series.
A high quality podcast has been made (for free, by the excellent fanbase). It’s at www.hpmorpodcast.com.
This is great, thank you! Surprised I haven’t stumbled across this before… Even better if it’s already an available resource, it seems worth sharing with the IMO students and other relevant groups (which was the essence of my suggestion above).