The Idea Behind Book Exchange Schemes

Quote of the day: 
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. 
-Christopher McCandless

image: LondonService.com

If you are a book lover you are bound to always be on the lookout for them everywhere you go. A bookstore here, a library there, online, and in book markets selling second hand books. One thing that's great to see is local book crossing initiatives and schemes that tend to encourage people to take or donate books in specified public spaces like train and bus stations, parks, libraries, and so on.

Book crossing is a term often used to describe the practice of leaving a book or more in a public location to be picked up and read by people who also do likewise -leaving reading materials has always been a way for bibliophiles to connect, while also serving as an outlet for new readers to discover authors and not running out of books to read. The idea behind book crossing was conceived by Ron Hornbaker in 2001, he developed it into bookcrossing.com, a website that encourages readers to read, register and release books for others to enjoy -and which today has more than a million members, with millions of books travelling through over 100 countries.

Of course there are many other schemes involving books and reading, especially for kids as its always a great idea to start them early. But the general idea behind any initiative is the transfer of knowledge, basically encouraging people to pick up a book to read, to give back and connect with others while doing so. A good example of this can be found in the Somerset village of Westbury. With the Westbury Book Exchange (pictured above, and touted to be Britain's smallest library), the local residents set up the structure -an old unused phone booth, donating materials from cooking books to classics -they found an unusual way to cope with the shortage of libraries in their area. Isn't that what life is about? Finding solutions to problems and having fun while doing so.

What do you think of the book crossing initiative? Have you come across any book schemes in your current location? Do share in the comments.



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