Great idea, especially in poor countries and poor areas but even if you do it in a rich area the poorer people who work there or walk through can help themselves and help each other. Yes, do copy this idea. Selling or giving away books to energise people and educate them and encourage trade has been done in various places over the past centuries. The bookshop village at Hay in Wales is breeding others around the world, Europe and Japan. Now in 2012 internet news is telling us about a TV programme showing us Nanie in Manila in the Philippines who started his home library with old textbooks to help educate and entertain the poor.
The first British libraries had the same aim. So did Sassoon's helping students in Bombay.
Nanie's books on boats reach the remote islands. I must search for the TV programme and watch it.
Guesthouses I've seen in the UK and New Zealand have leave or take a book on a bookshelf. Most of their books are holiday reading, novels and guidebooks.
You can take magazines to your doctor's, or dentist's if they have out of date magazines. I offered my doctors' surgery magazines - such a waste to throw them away unread as I'd bought craft magazines and children's magazines for the free gift and only glanced at each page.
A London gym also has a book table for people sitting on bikes or waiting for each other. Or maybe to educate the sporty types?
I was shocked when London boroughs, such Harrow and Brent, started closing libraries. Libraries already had regular sales of old battered books. People protested when local newspapers reported that book not sold were thrown away - not even given to local charity shops. They claimed the cost of sending books overseas prevented books being donated to poor countries. Mobile phones and computers are being recycled and carried free by some airlines to countries where schools need equipment.
What could stop you or anybody else doing this and how can you overcome the impediments? In England we have rain unpredictably all year which is not good for book boxes and shelves. But the solution is simple. A church lych gate. An awning. A porch roof. Nanie opened his home and garage. Indoors at a town hall or doctor's surgery.
My doctor's receptionist said I could not put magazines on the table but she had to check them first. Why? I suppose in case they were adult subjects or promoting a religious or political cause which could offend somebody. Or just dirty - spreading germs to the vulnerable at the doctors. Yet hospital waiting rooms have magazines to cheer and distract those waiting, whether it's a short or long wait. So helpful.
Here's an extra incentive to start a book borrowing service or book giving box. Use it to honour your ancestors or local saints and heroes. Nanie started it in memory of his parents.
In the UK in addition to rain we have laws about what you can put on pavements in High streets. You must not obstruct. But I've seen neighbours put out boxes of unwanted apples so they don't go to waste. Americans and others put unwanted goods on the pavements once a year. The internet has a Freeserve service which allows you to list things you are happy to give away, to recycle them and save yourself taking a trip to the tip.
Asian and oriental shops put up flower displays when they open. (Not just the owners. Often gift tags show the flowers were donated by suppliers or benefactors.) Surely any newly opened shop could put a box of free books on the doorstep. A restaurant or coffee bar could do the same to attract customers. Authors have donated books left at railway stations and each reader writes in their name and/or a comment and passes the book on. The author eventually gets feedback, or, at very least distribution to an audience. So, giving books - a commercial idea, and a charity idea.
The first British libraries had the same aim. So did Sassoon's helping students in Bombay.
Nanie's books on boats reach the remote islands. I must search for the TV programme and watch it.
Guesthouses I've seen in the UK and New Zealand have leave or take a book on a bookshelf. Most of their books are holiday reading, novels and guidebooks.
You can take magazines to your doctor's, or dentist's if they have out of date magazines. I offered my doctors' surgery magazines - such a waste to throw them away unread as I'd bought craft magazines and children's magazines for the free gift and only glanced at each page.
A London gym also has a book table for people sitting on bikes or waiting for each other. Or maybe to educate the sporty types?
I was shocked when London boroughs, such Harrow and Brent, started closing libraries. Libraries already had regular sales of old battered books. People protested when local newspapers reported that book not sold were thrown away - not even given to local charity shops. They claimed the cost of sending books overseas prevented books being donated to poor countries. Mobile phones and computers are being recycled and carried free by some airlines to countries where schools need equipment.
What could stop you or anybody else doing this and how can you overcome the impediments? In England we have rain unpredictably all year which is not good for book boxes and shelves. But the solution is simple. A church lych gate. An awning. A porch roof. Nanie opened his home and garage. Indoors at a town hall or doctor's surgery.
My doctor's receptionist said I could not put magazines on the table but she had to check them first. Why? I suppose in case they were adult subjects or promoting a religious or political cause which could offend somebody. Or just dirty - spreading germs to the vulnerable at the doctors. Yet hospital waiting rooms have magazines to cheer and distract those waiting, whether it's a short or long wait. So helpful.
Here's an extra incentive to start a book borrowing service or book giving box. Use it to honour your ancestors or local saints and heroes. Nanie started it in memory of his parents.
In the UK in addition to rain we have laws about what you can put on pavements in High streets. You must not obstruct. But I've seen neighbours put out boxes of unwanted apples so they don't go to waste. Americans and others put unwanted goods on the pavements once a year. The internet has a Freeserve service which allows you to list things you are happy to give away, to recycle them and save yourself taking a trip to the tip.
Asian and oriental shops put up flower displays when they open. (Not just the owners. Often gift tags show the flowers were donated by suppliers or benefactors.) Surely any newly opened shop could put a box of free books on the doorstep. A restaurant or coffee bar could do the same to attract customers. Authors have donated books left at railway stations and each reader writes in their name and/or a comment and passes the book on. The author eventually gets feedback, or, at very least distribution to an audience. So, giving books - a commercial idea, and a charity idea.
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