I will admit it I am a bit of a book snob. I would much rather prefer to purchase Hardback copies of every book that I want to read. But then I snap back to reality and realize that its just not plausible. That's when you start to turn to your fellow book readers close to you. You start to borrow and lend and hope that things work out. But then there is always that period of time when you hesitate because you worry that they wont take the sort of care you want them to of your book. Or if you are the borrower, you may feel like you have rush through the book and get it back to the lender as soon as possible. And then there is the unfortunate time when something awful happens to the lent book. It gets lost, washed, spilled on, or torn up. There are any number of fates that books meet. Then you have to go about the process of replacing the book, which takes you full circle to concept that you should have just purchased the book in the first place!
I found this great website that meets you in the middle. It's called PaperBack Swap. It works pretty simply. You post books that you are willing to part with. You make a wish list of books that you would like to get. When someone request one of your posted books you ship it to them, via media mail (on average $3 or less) and then you receive a credit on your account. With that credit you can request a book of your choosing to be mailed to you (at the expense of the the poster). Basically, you get a "new to you" book for around $3. So, yes these books are used but they are in fairly good condition and they are yours to keep or re-post on the site. And it's not just paperbacks, they have hardbacks, and audio books. I have so far sent off two books and received two books and I am pretty pleased with the process. Check it out:
