Trees love bookcrossing

When Charlotte asked me if I could write about a book for the blog, immediately six books came to mind. When I thought about it some more, rather than narrowing down the choice, soon I ended up with at least twenty books that deserved to be written about. So some lateral thinking was required: let me tell you about bookcrossing.

Bookcrossing is a global library. It has both a virtual and a physical component. The virtual component is a website http://www.bookcrossing.com, where you can become a member for free, get a unique number for any book you care to register, and write about any books that have found their way into your hands. You can even do the latter anonymously without becoming a member. The physical component not only consists of all the books that each carry their unique number, but also any place where you can find such a book. A parkbench can be turned into a bookshelf by the simple act of releasing a book there. Thus, there are three R's in bookcrossing: read, register, release. Transitioners will see the similarity with the other three Rs, which are also based on thinking in the Round rather than the linear.

Though I mentioned the parkbench, which is what bookcrossing is famous for, my preferred method of releasing books is to give them to people, because I like to target my books, which I value, to somebody I think will value that particular book as well. Though some people I've spoken to said they could never let go of their books, I think there's only a subset of books you read that you will ever reread, and even those you can lend out and ask to be given back. Trees love bookcrossing, I love trees, I love bookcrossing.

In case you were wondering what the six books were that first came to mind:
God emperor of Dune
The Earth care manual
The one straw revolution
Beyond you and me
Ecovillage living
Small is beautiful

Picture of my physical bookshelf. My virtual bookshelf.