Pam
04-05-2002, 12:31 PM
Check out "The Book Thing" - 100% free books. According to the FAQ, there's a limit of how many free books you can take with you: 15,000 per day:
From Book Magazine:
Free For All
The mission at The Book Thing in Baltimore is simple: Collect volumes of volumes—and give them away
by Tom Waldron
BARGAIN HUNTER Russell Wattenberg embraces
a free market for books.
Russell Wattenberg doesn't like what he sees: a young woman leaving The Book Thing empty-handed. "What, no books?" Wattenberg says in genuine exasperation. "What are you looking for?" Together, they go back into his book outlet. A few minutes later, a smiling Wattenberg reemerges with the woman, now carrying a bag filled with novels. Total cost: nothing. Books are free here, and Wattenberg, a twenty-nine-year-old Brooklyn native and former bartender who now spends up to a hundred hours a week tending to The Book Thing, is determined to give away as many as he can.
Each weekend, The Book Thing attracts a steady stream of customers eager to pick from a selection of roughly 200,000 books crammed in an unfinished basement of a Baltimore apartment building. The free books are donated by libraries, publishers, reviewers, authors and illustrators—as well as individuals. "Instead of being in a box or in a dump, these books will go home with somebody who will enjoy them," Wattenberg says. There is an occasional treasure, such as the first edition of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea that sold for $228.50—he used the proceeds to buy more books. What reappears the most? "Iacocca," he says without hesitation, referring to the auto exec's bestselling 1984 autobiography.
With a cherubic face framed by a bushy brown beard and curly hair tucked under a Jack Daniel's baseball cap, Wattenberg kibitzes with customers while he describes the path he took to become the book world's Johnny Appleseed.
Working at a downtown pub five years ago, Wattenberg often heard school teachers complain that their students had no books, so he began setting aside tip money to buy some for them. People heard about his gifts and started donating their throwaways. Sometimes Wattenberg would pack his van, head out to a crowded bus stop or playground, throw open his doors and announce, "Free Books!"
In 1999 he set up a nonprofit and aquired grand money to pay himself a small salary and rent space. The basement "store" near Johns Hopkins University has no parking, bathroom or heat, but it serves its purpose: Wattenberg estimates that his operation distributes up to 10,000 books a week to a diverse clintele that includes university professors and homeless people.
Wattenberg and a group of loyal volunteers have imposed some order on the crowded basement space, carving out sections devoted, for example, to travel, science and classic fiction. Popular fiction, with thousands of titles, is by far the largest section; and there are never enough children's books to satisfy the demand.
Naturally, there are also volumes that seem destined to gather dust forever - out-of-date Maryland law books, a 1964 federal tax guide and ancient computer manuals.
Ever optimistic, Wattenberg believes each book will find a home. There was the 1978 bus schedule for the Hawaiian island of Oahu that somebody donated. Sure enough, a woman found it one day and had to have it. It turns out that the woman honeymooned in Oahu in 1978 and, short on cash, relied on the buses to get around. She was thrilled to find the perfect souvenir. "It was just one of those things," Wattenberg says. "We've gotten that kind of reputation. If you can't find it anywhere else, check the Book Thing."
The Book Thing
For directions or information about donating books, call Russell Wattenberg at 410-662-5631
or visit www.bookthing.org.
From Book Magazine:
Free For All
The mission at The Book Thing in Baltimore is simple: Collect volumes of volumes—and give them away
by Tom Waldron
BARGAIN HUNTER Russell Wattenberg embraces
a free market for books.
Russell Wattenberg doesn't like what he sees: a young woman leaving The Book Thing empty-handed. "What, no books?" Wattenberg says in genuine exasperation. "What are you looking for?" Together, they go back into his book outlet. A few minutes later, a smiling Wattenberg reemerges with the woman, now carrying a bag filled with novels. Total cost: nothing. Books are free here, and Wattenberg, a twenty-nine-year-old Brooklyn native and former bartender who now spends up to a hundred hours a week tending to The Book Thing, is determined to give away as many as he can.
Each weekend, The Book Thing attracts a steady stream of customers eager to pick from a selection of roughly 200,000 books crammed in an unfinished basement of a Baltimore apartment building. The free books are donated by libraries, publishers, reviewers, authors and illustrators—as well as individuals. "Instead of being in a box or in a dump, these books will go home with somebody who will enjoy them," Wattenberg says. There is an occasional treasure, such as the first edition of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea that sold for $228.50—he used the proceeds to buy more books. What reappears the most? "Iacocca," he says without hesitation, referring to the auto exec's bestselling 1984 autobiography.
With a cherubic face framed by a bushy brown beard and curly hair tucked under a Jack Daniel's baseball cap, Wattenberg kibitzes with customers while he describes the path he took to become the book world's Johnny Appleseed.
Working at a downtown pub five years ago, Wattenberg often heard school teachers complain that their students had no books, so he began setting aside tip money to buy some for them. People heard about his gifts and started donating their throwaways. Sometimes Wattenberg would pack his van, head out to a crowded bus stop or playground, throw open his doors and announce, "Free Books!"
In 1999 he set up a nonprofit and aquired grand money to pay himself a small salary and rent space. The basement "store" near Johns Hopkins University has no parking, bathroom or heat, but it serves its purpose: Wattenberg estimates that his operation distributes up to 10,000 books a week to a diverse clintele that includes university professors and homeless people.
Wattenberg and a group of loyal volunteers have imposed some order on the crowded basement space, carving out sections devoted, for example, to travel, science and classic fiction. Popular fiction, with thousands of titles, is by far the largest section; and there are never enough children's books to satisfy the demand.
Naturally, there are also volumes that seem destined to gather dust forever - out-of-date Maryland law books, a 1964 federal tax guide and ancient computer manuals.
Ever optimistic, Wattenberg believes each book will find a home. There was the 1978 bus schedule for the Hawaiian island of Oahu that somebody donated. Sure enough, a woman found it one day and had to have it. It turns out that the woman honeymooned in Oahu in 1978 and, short on cash, relied on the buses to get around. She was thrilled to find the perfect souvenir. "It was just one of those things," Wattenberg says. "We've gotten that kind of reputation. If you can't find it anywhere else, check the Book Thing."
The Book Thing
For directions or information about donating books, call Russell Wattenberg at 410-662-5631
or visit www.bookthing.org.