Is There A Book Sharing Network? 59
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)."
First library post! (Score:4, Insightful)
Book sources - cheap, if not free: (Score:5, Informative)
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
Checkout these places. (Score:2)
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.
Re:Checkout these places. (Score:1)
As for moderation, librarians are well trained to select materials. If you have suggestions, they might even take them. I've been really impressed with the sci fi sections of several public libraries I've visited, but going to library school (IANAL(ibrarian)) I realized just how many librarians are also geeks, though perhaps not all of the computer variety.
Bookstores tend
Re:Checkout these places. (Score:1)
Made good use of the interlibrary loan system too...
Re:Checkout these places. (Score:1)
This is one of those things we were taught in second grade. If he's been paying taxes, he's been paying for the library anyway, using it or not.
All I can think of is that the submitter may come from some benighted country without a public library system,
What about O'Reilly Safari? (Score:1)
Re:bookcrossings.com (Score:1)
Library (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Library (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Library (Score:2)
What libraries Don't want is crappy used paperbacks. You may find local middle / high schools that will take them however.
Don't forget local nursing homes too. Retired people usually read a lot.
It wouldn't work, buying/selling is practical (Score:4, Interesting)
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).
no need to make anyone pay (Score:1)
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 mo
Great Idea !! (Score:1)
places to swap (Score:3, Informative)
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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Why reinvent the wheel? (Score:1)
Usenet (Score:4, Informative)
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.
For A Physical P2P Network... (Score:2, Informative)
Unfortunately, they're not accepting new memberships at the moment, but they promise to continue soon.
Library ? (Score:1)
And you can also take a peek there while you're at it, I'm sure you will find something new
Truck Stops and Campgrounds (Score:2, Informative)
Used bookstores too (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
LOC (Score:2)
That, or sell the books on eBay. Free money.
Take a Book, Leave a Book (Score:3, Informative)
Just what your looking for: (Score:1)
1. BookFilter [bookfilter.com].
2. Readerville [readerville.com].
I just had the very same idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I just had the very same idea (Score:1)
I'd skip the put $20 into a fund, and go with an ebay style comment system for relyability. Not simply slashdot style Karma, where people can hide.
Re:I just had the very same idea (Score:2)
We have one (Score:1)
Swappingtons (Score:4, Informative)
Here's an idea (Score:3, Interesting)
books = pr0n ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:books = pr0n ? (Score:2)
Project Gutenberg (Score:1)
N
Try hostels for travellers/backpackers (Score:2)
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.
Work (Score:2)
www.everything2.com (Score:1)
The E2 Great Grand Book Lotto [everything2.com] 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.
Local user groups? (Score:2)
Bookcrossing.com (Score:2)
Re:Bookcrossing.com (Score:1)
-SS
Re:Bookcrossing.com (Score:1)
limewire (Score:1)
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 [stanford.edu]
Too easy : talk to your friends, neighbours ... (Score:1)
Book Swapping At Work (Score:2)
It works pretty well, and adds a nice "sharing" atmosphere to work without cost. Consider asking your employer for a bookcase to improve morale.
Re:Book Swapping At Work (Score:1)
He needs to get an employer first. He has been laid off, which is why he has all the spare time (I would think he'd use that time to find another job, but that's just me).
Eveything2.com (Score:2)
and here [everything2.com].)
"Trade it on Trodo!" (Score:3, Informative)
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. [trodo.com](No cost to you, small benefit to me.)
Take them to your nearest Oxfam shop (Score:1)
Two places to get freek books (Score:1)
Yahoo Group bookwormsgathering (Score:1)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookwormsgatheringsp ot/ [yahoo.com]