[suziequeue]

Well - that's it - the end of civilisation....... I hve started shredding books 

After a lifetime of having a bit of a book fetish and a fairly major change in career direction we have put alot of books on Amazon - both professional and general accumulated ones. I have sold about 300 books through Amazon over the years but the railway paperbacks really don't sell.

In the past I have found that second had book shops don't seem to be that interested in these either.

..........so I have decided that the compost heap is the way for them to make their last and lasting contribution to the planet!!!

It feels very odd indeed but I managed half a Jodi Picoult book in about five minutes!!!

Found this page on eHow: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Old-Books

[Blueeyes]

Wow that seems such a shame, as a total book lover I cannot imagine doing this, but if you need rid of them could you not send them to a charity shop or even take them to a local hospital who sell them on for a small amount and then give the money to a local charity?!?

My daughter has cerebral palsy and so all of our donations go to the local scope shop and the money raised goes into doing research and providing help for people with cerebral palsy, it's such a small thing to do but can make a difference!

Sorry to be seeming to preach it just seems such a shame.

Blueeyes xx

[little blue]

I managed half a Jodi Picoult book in about five minutes!!!

Which one?
I've read most if not all of hers and can think of a couple that I would have shredded - had they not been library books!

My gut instinct as a book fetishist is to call you a philistine ... but I know what you mean, sometimes they just have to go!

What are the "railway paperbacks" ??
I know a few sad trainspotters (!) so if you still need a home, tell me what they are!
PM is fine

[ballingall]

It is a fact that books are getting harder to sell or even give to charities second hand now. The more people who get Kindle's, means the less people who will be buying actual paper books, whether they are second hand or not.

Beth

[Plantoid]

I've visited Haye on  Wye  where " The worlds biggest book shop " used to be some 30 or so properties in the town turned into bookshops  several times over the last 30 years of so .
 It has been noticeable that as the internet and computer games  use increased the number of books shops has decreased .

On the last visit  about 18 months ago I was time takling to a couple of the bookshop keepers and heard them bemoaning that the town has lost almost half its book shops.
 They have been replaced with YE Olde Tea Shoppes  and cheap Chinese garbage shops instead .

I asked where the books usually came from and was told it was in bulk by the ton from house clearance people and charity shops wioththe occasional  direct buy  from the visiting public but the public want far too much money for their books as no one is buying them nowadays .

Perhaps it is all to do with the general public being dummed down by TV gorpshows and the current dismal standard of most UK schools and their diluted examinations.

 The local " Freecycle " has occasional been an outlet but the sort of books I read apparently don't appeal to mainstream as they are to do with personal development , mind enhancement and development and a few unusual books  I've read on my way to developing my home based business as a comission sales developer .

 Just before we came here I took several hundred books that I'd purchased as new or as good second hand ones to the local recycling centre and put them in the book banks .

Now I find myself with  yet another 100 kg or so of books that I've read many times and moved on from.
But the time , effort and poor response of the second hand book market stops be wasting my time etc on trying to put them on sale so like the others I'll be visiting a book bank at the local supermarket if it is still there sometime soon.

Same goes for Munchkins  & Alisons books , you put them out on free cycle then several interested parties fail to turn up and collect when you have specifically stayed in for them to come and collect , instead they will now go for recycling..

That way they can try and sell them or sell them as a recycle paper source.

 One last thought
One thing about using too much shredded paper ..it is made of wood etc.  so will it  need to be thinly spread so as not to upset the nitrogen content in the soil and is it likely to have  heavy metal  or  other toxic inks in it if the books are much more than ten years old ?

[suziequeue]

My gut instinct as a book fetishist is to call you a philistine ...

 

I certainly felt like a philistine   

"We're not looking for books at the moment" is quite a common response when I have taken books to charity shops etc.

Which one?
I've read most if not all of hers and can think of a couple that I would have shredded

This one is "Nineteen minutes"

[mab]

I know how you feel - I never throw out a book. 

Mind you, when I lived on a boat in Brighton there was an informal book exchange operated in the shower block; there were a couple of spy-thrillers that kept coming back which, frankly, shedding would've been too good for them - I wouldn't have used them for lining the floor of a chicken coop!

mab

[RUSTYME]

Old books that are going to be chucked , could be used to grow mushrooms  on/in . Not sure about the heavy metal poison thing , i thought it was mainly newer glossy mag type stuff that was dodgy ? , maybe best check it out first !