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Is There A Book Sharing Network?
dmorin asks: "Having recently been laid off I find myself with more time to read and less money to spend on books. I stare at the shelves full of books I already have, most of which I won't read again, and wonder if there's an easy way to move them around the universe a bit. Get some new ones. I've thought about eBay, but I'm not sure that time and effort (cataloging, pricing, describing, shipping, etc..) would ever balance out. What I'm looking for is a site where people basically say 'Hey, here are some books I have, if you want one, I'll send it to you.' Note I didn't say 'sell'. This would be more about keeping the books in circulation for the sake of getting fresh stuff to read, not for making a profit. You paid for the book, you got something out of it, now let somebody else share it. And, of course, you're supposed to be asking other people for their books, too. Anything like that out there? Would anybody use such a thing?"
"This is not Book Crossing. Although I find that an awesome idea, I'm looking for more of a steady stream of books at my disposal, not just being lucky enough to stumble upon one under a picnic table.
I suppose such a service would have to have some sort of karma/moderation system to make sure that people were playing nice and not just hoarding others' books (since, unlike bookcrossing, the person donating would have to cough up some money for shipping it)."
That's a good booksharing network. Donate.
Isn't this the basic idea behind your local library?
1. Your public library.
2. Gutenburg project.
Non-free but worth a look:
Some colleges, such as mine, have online libraries with downloadable books. If you're a student, see if your college offers this.
have you tried the Library?
I know you probably prefer dead-tree books, as do many people. But O'Reilly's Safari service supposedly offers a relatively inexpensive way to gain exposure to a lot of technical titles. I haven't used it myself, so I can't really comment beyond that, but I'm sure others can share their experiences.
I would like to write letters to my family and also be able to balance my checkbook, do my taxes, and play card games. However, I can't think of how I would be able to do this. I guess I could buy some paper and pens and write those letters. And now that I think about it, those pens would be pretty useful in doing my taxes, but I'd probably have to buy a calculator as well. And as for the cards, they make such a mess and I really don't like playing 52-pick up.
I wonder if any of you know of anything that would allow me to do all these things with the least amount of hassle. Maybe there is some sort of pen-sharing group out there that would make it unnecessary for me to buy pens?
Why not donate the books you don't want anymore to your local public library? Then others can read them for free and if other people donate their unused books you can read them for free. Sounds like it fills most of the requirements you listed, though perhaps over not quite as large a geographic area. And as a bonus, most libraries will even put a nifty "Donated by" tag in the front of the book!
You need to make people pay for what they get, even if it is a big markdown over new books.
If not you'll run into the same tradgedy of the commons that ruins all systems with insufficinet accountability. Every user will have more incentive to take from the system than to give, and since these books are a finite resource, they will be quickly snapped up (especially the ones worth reading).
A karma like system might lessen this problem, but it would have to be pretty strict to keep the system flowing with finite, and probably scarce resources.
A system facilitating free market exchanges of used books is about the closest to this concept that I can forsee working in real life. You might try Amazon's marketplace for that kind of thing. They are better organized for books than ebay, however their shipping surcharges are somewhat exorbitant if you're just ordering little paperback books (shipping sometimes costs 4+ times a cheap used book's price).
"The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
Man this is one heck of an idea. The reason I have such a hrad time spending $40 to get a top quality book is that I know once I've finished it I probably won't need it a whole lot again. I think it would be great to set up a "people's library". If anybody wants to team up with me to begin writing somnething like this (in Linux|Apache|MySQL|Perl of course) let me know.
Karma: Bizzare (mostly affected by varying internal caffeine levels.)
Another place to look, if you've got an RV campground nearby, some of those have really good trading libraries. Lots of Danielle Steele and similar muck, but good books too. Full-time RV'ers are...interesting...people. You might be surprised at what you find in those swap shelves.
Likewise, lots of used bookstores will give pretty decent credit for trade-ins (you usually get less cash than credit for trade when you sell). You'll diminish your collection slowly that way, but used bookstores are wonderous places to spend a lot of time if you've got a good one. If you spent money on more books rather than shipping costs you'd be able to keep that trading up indefinitely.
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -Emerson
Cheap: .e-books. Newsgroups (again, if you're not averse to that sort of thing) ... Also... there are 3 coffee houses/cafes within about a 1/2 hour drive of me that have book swap shelves... a sort of informal leave 1, take 1 (or 2 or 3) sort of deal
1. Library book sales (they sell old/slightly damaged/redundant copies, two of them by me have permanent rooms full of books set up and sell them as a fund raiser)
2. Thrift shops
3. Flea markets/swap meets
4. Garage/yard/estate sales
5. Slightly illegal: Your local big box super stores dumpsters have TONS of "stripped" (no cover) books and magazines in them
Free:
1. Project Gutenberg
2. Many University web/ftp sites
3. Some warez web/ftp sites (if you're not averse to that sort of thing)
4.
5. Baen books
6. Memoware
7. Several more e-book sources that I cannot think of right now
[what?]
Find a local public library that has survived the rounds of budget cuts and is still open. You might be suprised at the level of sophistication and timeliness of tech books in most library collections. Be sure to browse the collection in their catalog rather than the stacks. Its a safe bet that 75% of the books are in circulation. To get one put a hold on it. Its almost always free, and the library will usually even ship the book to you. Some libraries do this for free as well. If they don't have a book you want, request it. They will either get it on loan or order it for their collection. Either way, you win.
For your personal collection, contact the library to see if book donations are taken and how the policies relate to your collection. Often paperpacks will not go into circulation but instead are set aside for fund raising book sales. Books the library won't take will probably be happily accepted at a school, boys and girls club, or the like that has computer classes.
While you're laid off, consider using your newfound spare time volunteering to teach kids to read instead of succumbing to the urge to direct a whole bunch of talent and enthusiasm into yet another open source project, destined to haunt the halls of Sourceforge half-finished when employment returns. Libraries are a precious resource, staffed with professionals dedicated to getting people the information they need and changing lives for the better. Why dilute their role?
Newsgroups are always the source for things of this nature
Other people are the most valuable resources for OCR books (and PDF scans.) if you do not have a scanner of your own that is.
Alt.binaries (will now be represented with a.b. for non Usenet fanatics) a.b.ebooks, a.b.e-book, a.b.e-book.flood, a.b.e-books, a.b.e-books.flood, a.b.e-books.technical.
If there is an author you would like posted, you post a request for them.
If you don't want to be a usenet freak with a client and all, you can just sign up for www.easynews.com. good enough for me.
Unfortunately, they're not accepting new memberships at the moment, but they promise to continue soon.
vi ~/.emacs
Ah yes, mention something that was mentioned in the article AND discounted in the article. Good job.
Why not fork?
Close. The link is actually http://www.bookcrossing.com/. Neat idea, although I've had no feedback yet on any of the six books I've released.
Have you thought of sending them to your local public library ?
:)
And you can also take a peek there while you're at it, I'm sure you will find something new
Intelligence shared is intelligence squared.
Often times, truck stops and campgrounds will have book swapping racks. It's not quite as high tech as you have in mind, but the next time you're out driving around, drop off a few and pick up a few.
Libraries are great! But: Your library may not be able to use your books, and may end up selling them off cheaply at a booksale. It's kind to give them a shot. I believe in libraries, but I know they actually have to pare down their collections, so don't give them a pile of crap.
Depending on the books you've collected, you may be able to sell them to used bookstores. They'll usually offer you more in credit than they do cash, so you can make trades more economically.
I've gone & sold 2/3 of a large pile to a used bookstore, then taken the last 1/3 to another used bookstore, & sold 2/3 of that. Iterate as desired. The last few I either kept or gave to Goodwill. I've given lots of books to friends, too.
I do a few things to economize on books. I am a real addict though. I even met my wife working in a bookstore.
Buy books at thrift stores, rummage sales, or library book sales. There are lots of wonderful books being sold by the peck sack.
Used bookstores can have bargains, but can also be overpriced. Very few computer books are of much use either to buy or sell, in a used bookstore. This akin to a friend of a friend's experience trying to sell a desktop computer to a pawn shop.
I try not to buy books I won't want to keep in the long run. Lots of books are very available through Project Gutenberg & the public libraries. You can read most classics free.
I also have a readers card at the nearest University library. It's not free, but it makes a lot of stuff available to me that I couldn't see otherwise. I think it's a better bargain at $75/year than O'Reilly's Safari.
Safari's a nice idea. Especially for geek books with a limited lifespan. Renting books troubles me a little though. If I want it enough to pay to rent it, as a professional, I'll likely want to own it anyway.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
Someone would collect and not share...until they had their own Library of Congress to measure data by.
That, or sell the books on eBay. Free money.
...
While it isn't on the global scale you seem to seek, I know of two coffee shops with "Take a Book, Leave a Book" libraries. They work out quite nicely. I see quite a few of the books I leave come and go more than once, so people definitely come back for more. Perhaps you could persuade a local technology store into allocating floor space to something like this for technology books.
Two things.
1. BookFilter.
2. Readerville.
- Someone sets up a web site where people can register themselves and their books
- Advertise the site in a neighborhood or office (should be easy to go around and trade books w/ people)
- (Optional) everyone puts up $20 that a trusted party (the web site owner?) holds. This is to make sure you don't get ripped off by strangers signing up and taking books. One may also want to set up a reputation for happily loaning so many books to others and also safely returning books. Basically establist Karma
- People search for the books they want, find one, and set up a time with the owner to pick it up
- The book is marked as 'out' so others on the site don't ask for it. Maybe there is a waiting list. The book owner can also use this to see who has her books and how long they've been out
- The borrower returns the book when done. The owner marks it as availible. All is good.
Alright, a cookie to the first implementation!A speech...
We have such a thing already in our city! It's called a Public Library! Lobby your city council to get one too!
He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
You might check out Swappingtons. It works with swap points, and it's for books and other media. It's brand new, so you might have to dig for something you want.
I'm guessing you probably would be most interested in geek type books so what about getting on the mailing list of your local Linux User Group and offering your already read books and asking if others have any they wouldn't mind sharing? Then just meet up and swap at the next meeting. No shipping costs involved, you make some new friends, and you might even broaden your job search network enough to get some inside leads.
a simple word substitution in the article may make this a more popular thread
Note: Just so you know, the true Gutenberg texts have several pages at the beginning of each document as something of both a status on the project and a license, it is fairly long, but worth it.
Most hostels I've been in while I was in Australia have a book trading corner. That way, backpackers can read loads of books while only carrying a single book, so they can travel light. You can leave a book and take another one if you're finished.
I know I've enjoyed the possibility to read books I would normally not risk spending hard earned cash on, exposing myself to new authors. Just a pity there wasn't usually a good selection of scif-fi and fantasy around.
I interned at a place full of compulsive readers (lawyers). In the law library there was a shelf for book swap. Some interesting things up there, of course. I sort have set up something similar. It doesn't take much space, really, you just need like a shelf, or a box somewhere in the corner.
The E2 Great Grand Book Lotto is just getting underway. Okay, it's a temporary thing, it's on a pretty small scale and the organiser clearly states that the administration is horrendous, but the idea is great.
This sounds like something that you could probably arrange with your local computer user group(s). I know my local LUG members occasionally swap more than just info, but it's more adhoc printer for a scanner type stuff than an organized swap-shop. It shouldn't be too difficult to arrange for everyone to bring anything they don't want or need anymore to the next meet and have a group bartering session.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
Not quite the same as you're looking for, but an interesting idea: Bookcrossing. From the site: "Do you like free books? How about free book clubs?. Well, the books our members leave in the wild are free... but it's the act of freeing books that points to the heart of BookCrossing. Book trading has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library. BookCrossing is a book exchange of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind..."
limewire is great for finding books to download. You can automatically filter for documents (ps,pdf,doc...) although i find alot of the best computer related books are in zip format. I got a huge zip file (50MB) downloaded ages ago that basically was the whole o'reilly series on java.
right now i'm sharing a giant zip file called AllDocsSubscription.zip which is the full documentation (up to 3.03) for the open source jboss project and would normaly cost a pretty penny. also available here
Before adopting WHATWG, read the moonlight.NET EULA [http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/moonlight.mspx]
... and swap with them or communally buy books. If say, 5 of you buy a book and swap it around you have paid a fifth of the price. Or agree on a list of books you all want to read. Buy them as a group and swap them around. To really expand this, get on any chat forum whatsoever and ask if anyone local wants to swap. For the record, I've done this with CD's, power tools, books ... drew the line at wives/husbands but I guess I'm just not open-minded enough :-)
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
It works pretty well, and adds a nice "sharing" atmosphere to work without cost. Consider asking your employer for a bookcase to improve morale.
Check out Everything2.com. Not only is it just a cool site, they have several things going on with this (see here
and here.)
Random Musings
I think you're basically describing Trodo, a one-for-one media swapping service.
There's problems with it's business model (Ex: ANY 'Book' is one 'credit' - So a moth-eaten copy of 'The Two Towers' is worth as much as an obscure out-of-print short story collection.), but my limited experience so far (one taken, one given.) has been good.
If you want to sign up, a link is here.(No cost to you, small benefit to me.)
"You need to make people pay for what they get, even if it is a big markdown over new books."
...unless you are trying to get rid of too many books.
No need to make anyone pay; I want to make it easier for the people to take the reading material! I've got boxes and boxes of books and magazines (mostly history-related) that I've had trouble giving away.
"and since these books are a finite resource, they will be quickly snapped up (especially the ones worth reading)."
As finite as grains of sand on the beach, I wonder? It seems to me that there are more and more new books all the time, and the older ones are not being destroyed that fast.
"Every user will have more incentive to take from the system than to give"
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Take them to the nearest charity shop. If you are looking for cheap books then a few pence from a charity shop is not much to pay.
Good idea. More people should. It does happen:
I've organized something similar for people
I know from Phoenix Perl Mongers -
a list of books that people have that they're willing to loan out. Good luck!
#bookz on undernet, and alt.binaries.e-book newsgroups.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookwormsgatheringsp ot/
Have you tried booksfree.com? It appears to be like netflix, but for books. Rates start at $7 a month for 2 books.