JanneJalkanen writes about BookMooch, a site where you can trade old books. ¹ Via JoiIto. ²
Sounds interesting. Basically the Amazon Marketplace seems to work well enough for me when I’m trying to *buy* old books, but I can’t seem to get rid of books I no longer want. At least here in Switzerland the community libraries don’t seem to be interested in them. I asked.
So I’ve signed up, and will add about twenty books. Let’s see if anybody ever wants one of the books. 😄
BookCrossing sounds so much like dumping the books like trash. 🙁 I somehow doubt that in the age of gratis newspapers and tons of paper trash, books will actually be picked up in trains.
I guess my problem is that bookcrossing requires you to read and release good books only. But I only want to give away bad books. ;)
#Books #Web
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I’m a member of Bookcrossing and I meet up with other bookcrossers in my city. Some of us are purists who insist on reading books before releasing them. Others buy bulk lots of books in used-book stores and release them without reading – I think they’re more interested in tracking where the books travel.
I think most regular bookcrossers find that only a small number of books that they release are eventually found and recorded in the system, so these “catches” feel special.
– ClaudineChionh 2006-08-14 08:54 UTC
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Hm. What do you is happening to the unregistered books. Are they just lost junk? Here in Switzerland, I suspect people would just dump them. Trash. Recycled paper. I don’t think I can bear the thought. 😢
One promising development is the appearance of a bookcrossing shelf in a coffeehouse we like to go to ¹. I’d feel ok dropping good books there.
– Alex Schroeder 2006-08-14 18:48 UTC
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Oh, got my first book request via BookMooch! Somebody wants the Shockwave Rider by John Brunner...
Shockwave Rider by John Brunner
– Alex Schroeder 2006-08-16 10:29 UTC
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I got an email from the site today starting off with “BookMooch has been live for 9 days now and it’s been a wild week!” – I didn’t know that it was such a new thing. Guess I’m hipper than I though, haha.
– Alex Schroeder 2006-08-16 22:38 UTC
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Hm. I sent off the Shockwave book. Cost me CHF 10 (USD 8.16) postage + CHF 1.20 for the envelope. And that’s non-express post. That’s pretty expensive... 🙁
– Alex Schroeder 2006-08-17 08:23 UTC
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Hah, I added 52 books to my inventory @ BookMooch.
– Alex Schroeder 2006-08-18 00:31 UTC
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Some books reappear on the website after being “missing” for months or years; and some do end up in the bin. 🙁 Regular bookcrossers are always discussing their favourite release techniques.
– ClaudineChionh 2006-08-19 11:10 UTC