Trade and track books with BookCrossing.com

What is BookCrossing and how does it work?

You leave a book you no longer want on at a park bench or coffee shop for another reader to find.  You can then visit BookCrossing.com to find out where your book has been.  To do this, you register your book with BookCrossing, and receive a unique serial number to identify it.  You then label the book with the serial number and “release it into the wild” at a location of your choice.

The person who finds a BookCrossing book can visit the site to find out where it has been, and add their own journal entry if they choose.  You don’t have to be a member to leave a journal entry.  The site is anonymous, and no one will try to sell you anything.  Memberships are free.  You may, if you choose, purchase books and labels through the BookCrossing store- this is now the site is supported.

BookCrossing has been around since 2001, and now boasts over 680,000 member around the world.  Members can list books on their “virtual bookshelves” and trade them directly to other members instead of “releasing into the wild.”

My releases

Just a couple of hours ago I left a copy of The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman at a Starbucks in Downey, California.  You can track it at www.BookCrossing.com/086-6851142

Buying every book I read would be prohibitively expensive, so I mostly use the library.  Every now and then I’ll buy a book, especially if I’m traveling.  Whenever I release a book, I’ll announce it on this blog and provide a link to its journal.