Slashdot Mirror
Free as in Books?
donkeyDevil writes "Forget free software, contribute to free books! The Chronicle has an interesting story about bookcrossing.com's effort to track feral books through their captors. Read about it, then do it.
(Although the focus of the story is on Bay Arean book releasors, it looks like you'd have a better chance of snagging a free book here.)"
How long before this is hijacked by publishers to promote novels in a fake "grass roots" caompaign? Maybe they'd just release a teaser version missing the last 10 pages or something.
Ummmm it's volountary dude. If you "find" a book crossings book, you're under no obligation whatsoever to register that fact, or to re-release it. Nobody is MAKING you do anything you don't want to. Sheeeeeesh.
As to books of dubious nature, have yiu actually been to the bookcrossings site and seen the titles that are being released and found? many great works of literature.
This is a FUN thing to do, no sense of Big Brother at all.
People who participate enjoy it, and a lot of them that have found books, read something they would never have read before, and have enjoyed doing so.
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
The problem is that I want to keep the really good books so that I can read them again. If everybody else does this there'll be only bad books floating around
Hopefully tastes differ enough that someone will love a book that I dont, and it can have a good home. And when I read a great book in paperback I often buy a hardback copy to keep since it'll last longer, I think I'll start releasing those paperbacks. That way I can still reread the books I love, and give someone else the chance to discover them
- We are the slashdot. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be moderated -
Yes, because the absolute best message we can present to kids is "Reading is only meaningful when digested in a suitable, prepackaged form", followed by "Literature has no room for spontaneity" and of course the all-time favorite, "There's no way that reading could be fun, something you do on your own time."
Yessiree, that's sure to spike the interest of kids in reading...
Of course, the sane answer is, Why can't we do both? Teach literature in school and make it available to everyone?
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Because it's voluntary.
Because it's non-intrusive.
Because it's opt-in.
Because it's not done by the government.
Because it's not done by a corporation whose only god is the bottom line.
Because it's non-exhaustive: you can ignore the books, pick one up and read it without tracking it, etc.
The threats to human freedom are real and urgent. But they're not omnipresent... sometimes, data can be a good thing. And I'd much rather see volunteer-driven, indivudal-centric projects like this than a mandated, national, bureaucratic effort like a national ID.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
People look for books in the library not on park benches and in seat backs.
:-)
Talk to the folks at your local Libary and give your books to them. I might be missing something but I think there would be better results working with your local libraries.
Then again, maybe not.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
Sharing books a threat to privacy?
Ideology is fine and good,but when it starts seeing threats in every innocuous thing it crosses the line to paranoia.
It's not like the books have little GPS receivers and glom onto unsuspecting and unwilling people to transmit their reading habits to big brother. It's just a way for people to say "thank you" to a the chain of kind-hearted souls who released and rereleased the books before them, by making the good results of their actions visible.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Jesus, watching the display of jaundiced and paranoiac viewpoints in this thread is enough to make me want to never read this forum again.
This isn't a damn privacy rights thing. Nor is it about how people should be donating these books to libraries, or whether they should or shouldn't be tracking them, or if some publisher is going to game the system for nefarious means. It's just harmless fun -- an all-volunteer effort by a group of people who love to read.
I mean, kick ass. Buona sera. I love it. More power to them. Can't some of you just revel in one of the wonders of the 'net without reaching for your tinfoil hats? Can't you just stop being critical asses long enough to see something that's really, truly good? Are you all that cynical?
Maybe I should drop a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking in a comic book store somewhere and try to help one of you.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.