About Buoyancy Books
GO TO: BUOYANCYBOOKS.COM/OAK
Books can do more when they’re free to travel.
Buoyancy Books is an experiment in creating and sharing books differently.
Our goal is simple: help as many people as possible.
We started with a principle we want to keep even as Buoyancy Books grows:
Robert’s great-aunt had a saying that became part of the thinking behind Buoyancy Books:
follow your heart and you’ll have enough money; follow the money and you may lose your heart.
That’s why our digital books are free to read. Printed editions are available for people who want a physical book, but buying a book shouldn’t be the price of admission to an idea.
We also believe good ideas can come from anywhere.
Buoyancy Books is a place to read, play with ideas, and create. Change an ending. Vote on what should happen next. Invent a character. Explore a scientific question. Use AI to help turn an idea into a story. Or simply read and enjoy.
You don’t have to be a writer or an artist. Curiosity is enough.
What We’re Building
Buoyancy Books is an experiment in making stories more open, interactive, and fun.
Our digital stories are free to read. But reading can be just the beginning. Visitors can explore different endings, vote on ideas, create characters, experiment with stories, and learn how new tools like AI can help turn an idea into something more.
Some ideas may eventually grow into published Buoyancy Books projects. Others might simply be fun to make. Both are worthwhile.Inspired by others
We didn’t invent open and collaborative publishing.
Organizations around the world have already demonstrated what can happen when children’s books and educational ideas are made more accessible. Projects including Book Dash, Pratham Books and StoryWeaver, African Storybook, and Storyberries have helped inspire our thinking.
We’re exploring our own version of that idea: free digital stories that people can read, play with, and use as a starting point for creating something of their own.
Where We’re Starting.
Oak the Orca Thinks About Gravity is where we’re starting.
It’s a book for kids and adults about an orca wondering about gravity, buoyancy, astronauts, humans, and what it means to float.
But Oak is also an experiment.
What happens when we publish a book, let everyone read it for free, and then invite readers to play with it—change an ending, explore an idea, create something new, and see where it goes?
We don’t know yet.
That’s part of the fun.
Who We Are
Buoyancy Books was created by people from different backgrounds who share a belief that useful ideas should be accessible to everyone.
Robert Savinelli, PhD — Creative Director
Chemist, writer, and co-creator of Buoyancy Books. Robert leads the creative direction of the project and the development of its stories and ideas.
Joseph Tu, MD — Director of Human Impact
Physician and co-creator of Buoyancy Books. Joseph focuses on how the ideas and projects we create can have a meaningful, positive impact on people’s lives. Joseph is a spine and pain specialist with a major medical network in the Los Angeles area, where he specializes in managing and treating patients with neck, back and joint pains. He also has personal experience with spine and joint pain from previous athletic injuries. He has developed a routine to manage his condition and wishes to disseminate what he has learned through the years from patient care and his own experiences to help more people understand, prevent, and manage spine and joint pains.
Whatever floats your boat.