Got a book? Meet at Westlake Center at noon Friday

If you're downtown at noon, you might see a lot of people reading.

Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Jun 29, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>Got a book? Meet at Westlake Center at noon Friday</h1>
                <h2><p>If you're downtown at noon, you might see a lot of people reading.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>If you're downtown at noon, you might see a lot of people reading.</p><p><strong>Seattle likes to brag</strong> on its high levels of book reading. The<a href="http://friendsofspl.org/default.aspx?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org"> Friends of Seattle Public Library</a> have an event that should reinforce that image.</p><p>On their web site, the Friends are asking people to show up at Westlake Center at noon, "pull out a book, and start reading."</p><p>They're calling it the "Friends of Seattle Public Library Flash Mob." The question is: Will those who love to engage in the solitary act of reading also want to be part of such a social media-style event?</p><p>Well, actually, in Seattle there will probably be enough book lovers that the real issue will be making sure the ones who are walking around reading their books don't trip over the ones who are sitting and reading.</p>
          </article>

If you're downtown at noon, you might see a lot of people reading.

Seattle likes to brag on its high levels of book reading. The Friends of Seattle Public Library have an event that should reinforce that image.

On their web site, the Friends are asking people to show up at Westlake Center at noon, "pull out a book, and start reading."

They're calling it the "Friends of Seattle Public Library Flash Mob." The question is: Will those who love to engage in the solitary act of reading also want to be part of such a social media-style event?

Well, actually, in Seattle there will probably be enough book lovers that the real issue will be making sure the ones who are walking around reading their books don't trip over the ones who are sitting and reading.

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Monthly Viewer Guide

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue

By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi