The Bookmooch Thread

[ChuckF]

I have been meaning to start this thread for a while now, but the research obsession thread got my inner booknerd all erect. Does anybody else do Bookmooch (http://bookmooch.com/)? Basically it is a free book exchange. You post what you have to give away, people request it from you, and you ship it to them. So you pay $2-3 (for domestic mail) to ship it, and then you get a point to request a book from somebody else. More points for international transactions. It's all explained on the website. There's another more commercial-y one called Paperbackswap that I've also used, but it basically sucks so f that.

I started using it after both I and my parents did a major book purge. It was a way to extract some value from the books that I couldn't trade in, and I have gotten some really great stuff on there. It isn't the most economical thing, and I don't really need more books anyway, but I like the idea of it. The free book exchange is nice, and you can donate your points to libraries and other charitable causes so they can get stuff too. I've given away 20-something books and received 20-something, and the transactions have always gone really well. I have gotten some great stuff, including a book signed by the author, and I haven't been murdered not even once.

Good stuff:

Good community
Free books
Way to get rid of things
Way to get new things

Bad stuff:
Hello Internet Stranger, here is my home address
Selection is not always so great; you have to get lucky for the good stuff
Creeping shipping costs ($2.50 or whatever per book can add up)
Probably not so carbon-neutral; this makes me feel even guiltier about not giving books to the thrift store
Points system is kind of all fucked up because there are too many points in the system, at least I think so?

I am planning another book purge soon, and I'm going to put most of them on there, I think. So do any :ff:ers mewch, b/c I don't have anybody on mah Bookmooch Friends list :sadcheer:

[Doctor X]

I rarely part with my books unless they really, really, really suck [Or he finishes coloring them.--Ed.].

--J.D.

[ChuckF]

I have kind of a core permanent collection that rarely changes, and then another one that I am more casual about cleaning out. Usually when I move or just have a Very Serious Day I decide that some books no longer align with my interests, some books are no longer current scholarship, and some books just suck, and I get rid of 'em.

[Lauri D]

Wow what a great idea! Everytime I've moved I ended up donating a buttload of books to the local library but I kind of like this idea better. In the past four months I've passed along the books I've purchased to others (facebook/frdb/etc.) friends that I already knew and trusted - and while the "stranger" thing could potentially sketchy, I like the idea. I have a few books right now (I mostly library nowadays but often receive books as gifts) that I'm looking to pass on to interested parties, so I'm going to check it out!

[Chris Porter]

I just use Paperback Swap. Had no problem with it.

[Demimonde]

I've had the link to Paperbackswap, but have yet to jump on. (Mostly because I have precious few books I have not had to sell. :shakehobo:)

I have always had a strict no loan policy with books. Partly because I am notorious for not returning them myself. Not that I am a hoarder by any means. I refuse to loan books, but I gift them a lot. Typically, a book has someone's name on it shortly after I begin it.

Books never pile up in my house though, because after years of re-reading books I decided that the best library is one that I haven't yet read. I have a few dozen books that I keep for sentimental reasons, but I have decided that once I have read a book, it goes to a new home. That way I always have room for more.

I will keep this link though and thanks for the recommendation.

[ChuckF]

My only problem with Paperbackswap is how hard they flog their mailing label service. And if you don't use it you have to wait for the recipient to click before you get your credit.

[Crumb]

But then what would I give for secret santa?! :ohno:

[Chris Porter]

My only problem with Paperbackswap is how hard they flog their mailing label service. And if you don't use it you have to wait for the recipient to click before you get your credit.

Well, it's not like I'm in a hurry, so waiting for the recipient to get it, or the book to get to me, has never actually bothered me. And since I do use their labels, that doesn't bother me either.

I do find the website to be somewhat difficult to navigate, however.

I still have something like 3 book credits I've not used. I have used Paperbackswap to complete a set of books I've waited on for many years (out of print), and still hope to complete another series, too (also out of print). I suppose I could try Bookmooch and see if they might have some of the series for swap (Dies Irae, by Brian Stableford)

[ChuckF]

Attention :ff:

It is book-cleaning-out time again, and I have some offerings. If anybody wants any of these, you can either a) mooch them from me on bookmooch (this is slightly preferable b/c of teh pointz) or b) just PM me on here (if you don't want to bother registering). They are of course all free, but I expect you to do the postage cost worth of good deeds or give the postage costs to :ff: or sumfin nice.

The following are listed on bookmooch:

Federico Andahazi, The Anatomist
Wilhelm Braune, Althochdeutsches Lesebuch (does anybody here need an Old High German reader?)
Robertson Davies, The Rebel Angels
Carlos Fuentes, The Old Gringo
Henry James, The Ambassadors: An Authoritative Text
Harvard Lampoon, Bored of the Rings
The Onion, Our Dumb Century (the audio cassette, not the book)
Andrew Spicer, Plague: Black Death & Pestilence in Europe


These are not on bookmooch because they are not in great shape or are just probably not gonna get mooched:


J.R.R. Tolkein, The Tolkein Reader (very fragile; this has one read left in it)
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (cover is fucked up but in good shape)
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (one read left in it)
Erich Fromm, Marx's Concept of Man
The Senate Watergate Report
The Presidential Transcripts
Isaac Deutscher, Stalin (first edition, so old and outdated)
Neil White, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts (advanced reading copy)


And finally I cannot imagine that anybody would want any of these because they are so old and/or specialized:

Robert G. Kaiser, Why Gorbachev Happened
Gary Bertsch, Reform & Revolution in Communist Systems
Marshall Goldman, What Went Wrong with Perestroika
R. Barry Farrell, ed., Political Leadership in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
Leon Aron and Kenneth M. Janson, eds., The Emergence of Russian Foreign Policy (lol 1994)
Robert Jervis et. al, Psychology & Deterrence
Stephen White, Gorbachev and After
David R. Marples, Ukraine under Perestroika (oold 1991)
Alexander J. Motyl, Dilemmas of Independence: Ukraine after Totalitarianism (ooold 1993)
Azade-Ayse Rorlich, The Volga Tatars (oooooold 1986)
Merle Fainsod, Smolensk Under Soviet Rule


Except for the ones listed on bookmooch, these are all going to the thrift store next week, so if anybody wants any of these, lemme know. Also, more than one = better.

[Nullifidian]

I was the one who mooched the above four crossed-out titles, and they arrived today.

Thanks a whole lot for the books. I'm certain that I'm going to enjoy them. :thankee:

:cheer::pimpbrezhnev::cheer:

[ChuckF]

wewt that was pretty fast for cross-country media mail!

I got rid of most of the other stuff, and the rest is headed for the thrift store at the end of the week.