ONE WAY TO SWAP BOOKS ONLINE

Here is an online book swap service: ReadItSwapIt, a UK innovation.

How do you swap books via this system? 
The swap process works in the same way that you'd normally swap something. You find something you like, you ask to swap, another ReadItSwapIt members chooses something of yours and you exchange the goods. The only difference with ReadItSwapIt is that the swaps are done over the internet.

Step 1 - You select the book that you would like from The Library. Many books are available from more than one person, so choose the person you like the look of. Click 'Swap with this member'.

Step 2 - The ReadItSwapIt member who owns that book receives an email saying that you want to swap.

Step 3 - The other user logs onto the site and views your list of books. If this user finds one that he or she likes, he or she will confirm the swap. He or she can also reject the swap request at this point. If the swap is confirmed, the other user will be able to see your postal address.

Step 4 - You will receive an email saying the swap has been confirmed, along with the address to which you need to post the book.

Step 5 - When the books are received, each person logs on to say they have received the book and they rate the other person.

Is there a limit to the number of books requested?
Yes, the number of books you can request from other users depends on the amount of positive feedback you have from other users. This is a security measure put in place to prevent abuse by users who do not have much feedback – a little like libraries which prevent you from borrowing lots of books the first time you go there.
Check it out here: http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/Questions.aspx?Section=Swappingbooks

COMPOST list of BOOK SWAPS around the WORLD

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ABOUT BOOK SWAPS

CREATING a BOOK SWAP: SOME IDEAS

ABOUT the COMPOST

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FEELING RUSTY?

Here's something weird.

Blood is not all that different to rust.

From the book E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis, Page 244:
"[Laurent] Lavoisier...became the founder of modern biology, by opening up the basics of physiology. Human blood, for example, is mostly water, and if you ever try to mix oxygen into water, not a great deal will stay there. But if you scatter some finely ground-up iron filings into the water, then oxygen you pump in will stick to that iron just as it did in his lab. (Each iron fragment quickly starts rusting, and in doing so pulls in a great number of oxygen molecules, making them stick. The result is the iron-rich water can hold onto a lot of oxygen [and supply it where it is needed around the body].) This is how blood works: it's red for the same reason that the iron-rich clay soil of Georgia is red."

This, and other fascinating stuff about science, can be found in this book.
Good Reads entry
Wikipedia entry on author David Bodanis


Originally posted here: http://theadoxistsociety.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html

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NEW OWNERS for OLD BOOKS

There are lots of internet-based innovations to facilitate a flow of second hand books out there: book crossings, e-bay and trade-me, buying online and offline in the form of our beloved (and sadly increasingly rare) second-hand book shop…

Here is our model, which has been trialled in the past, and has been very worthwhile and effective indeed. This is the skinny on what ideally needs to be done, in terms of holding book swaps. Of course, variations will occur.


CLICK HERE for the FULL ARTICLE!






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BOOKBROWSE

Continuing the Compost list of some of the interesting and useful book blogs that it has seen and are out there in infospace.
Today it’s Bookbrowse. This one even contains its own magazine. Plenty of discussions are available, along with bookclubs.
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A LIST of BOOK BLOGS

On this page the Compost will list some interesting book blogs that it has seen and knows of. As a start, you can't go too wrong with Bookgeeks. More soon.






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GUARDIAN RELEASES BOOKS into the WILD

Read about how national British newspaper, The Guardian, launched and ran its six-week autumn books season by setting 15,000 titles free into the wild one weekend last September.

From fiction to design, and children's books to science, the Guardian gathered thousands of books from publishers and authors, distributing them around the country for free. Books were left in public places where readers were liable to chance upon them, from stations and coffee shops to galleries and museums.

The giveaway was part of the Guardian and Observer Book Swap, for which readers and writers were also asked to give their own favourite reads away. After inserting a bookplate sticker provided by the paper into the front of the book, and writing a message for the finder, the readers were to leave the book somewhere to be picked up by a new owner.

Original article

In pictures

COMPOST list of BOOK SWAPS around the WORLD

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CLASSIC MAGAZINES and JOURNALS

No. 2: THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Continuing a special Compost series on some of the world's most interesting and influential publications.

These are in no particular order, and the number does not represent a ranking of any kind.

While a huge number of publications are issued by clubs and societies, few are on such a scale as the National Geographic. The National Geographic is rare in being almost the definition of it's parent society.

Early issues are noted for having practically no internal images, being a journal of a technical nature. With time, its pupularity ballooned through the combination of a less esoteric content, more of a 'travelogue' feel, and of course (even though initially black and white) the photographs.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
WIKIPEDIA: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

CLASSIC MAGAZINES and JOURNALS 1: THE LISTENER

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