Books on the move!

My sister and I recently joined Paperback Swap, an online book club. It's pretty cool. At first I wasn't sure if it was for me. I'm kind of a book hoarder. I love having shelves and shelves of books. They're like trophies declaring how well read I am. They make me feel smarter. So it was difficult for me to think of parting with them. Upon reflection, I've decided that's kind of a silly mindset. I'm not likely to reread a book. As much as I may love a given novel, there's an opportunity cost to rereading it. For every book that I reread, there's a great book out there that I'll never be able to read. So there's really no sense to keeping books, at least from a utilitarian point of view. Still, I'm only gradually posting books, and mostly those that I was underwhelmed by. (I think that gradually posting books is the right idea. Otherwise you end up having to mail out tons and tons all at once, which can really be a pain. If you only post a few books a week, you're able to control the rate at which you send out books to some extent.)

My favorite feature of the club is the maps. I guess that makes sense. I've turned into a landscape ecologist. We're interested in the spatial aspect of things and how that influences ecological relationships. Furthermore, as a remote sensor, I end up making a lot of maps (of the distribution of invasive plants, mostly). So it's not surprising that I just love that paperback swap makes maps plotting where you've sent books and received them from. Check out where my books have gone!

There are 2 that don't show up on this map. One to LA that I mailed last night, and another to Virginia that arrived but never appeared (I guess that user doesn't have a public profile or something). Apparently I read things that are hot on the east coast. I feel so refined. Many of Jenny's books have gone to the sticks (Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.). That makes me laugh! =)

I recommend that all of you join! It's great. There's nothing better than a new (old) book arriving in the mail, and it's kind of fun to wrap them up to send. If you do join, be sure to say that I referred you. (Use my UCD email address.)