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Is There A Book Sharing Network?

Posted by Cliff on from the providing-a-steady-stream-of-literature dept.

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)."

3 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. First library post! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's a good booksharing network. Donate.

  2. Book sources - cheap, if not free: by tadd · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cheap:
    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. .e-books. Newsgroups (again, if you're not averse to that sort of thing)
    5. Baen books
    6. Memoware
    7. Several more e-book sources that I cannot think of right now ... 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

    --
    [what?]
  3. Usenet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.