I know you've seen websites where you can enter the serial number of
dollar bills and track where they go, or websites where people will give
the GPS coordinates to caches they've hidden around the world. But how
about books?
I've signed up this weekend with BookCrossing
(http://www.bookcrossing.com) and I really like the idea. Basically, you
register a book and get a unique ID number. You label the book and
release it. Maybe you hand it a friend with the request that they pass
it on to someone else (a "controlled" or "tame" release) or
"accidentally" leave it on the bus or in a coffee shop (a "wild"
release.) Eventually it falls in the hands of someone who goes to the
website, enters the ID number and writes about how they found the book.
Then it gets passed on again.
The website also allows you to go hunting for books. When a book is
released, many people will make an entry giving the time and place.
Others can then look up releases and, if they find a title that sounds
interesting, make a dash to be the one to claim it.
Aside from the satisfaction of seeing other people enjoy books that
you've enjoyed, this can be a way of sharing books on rational thought
and free speculation: science, science fiction, biographies, history,
published essays. Most of the folks in alt.atheism seem to be avid
readers; if you are like me, you have shelves full of books you've
enjoyed but probably won't read again for years. Why not release them
and let someone else experience the joy you've felt?
If you do sign up, my name at the site is TechBear. Please credit me
with referring you :-D
--
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"[T]hose who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves;
and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."
-- Pres. George W. Bush, Hypocrite, his inauguration speech, 2005
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