old books - what do you do with them

What do you do with old books that were good, but certainly not your top 10 favorite?

Give them away?
Donate them?
Keep them forever? (pack rat)
Trade them?
Throw them away?
Garage sale?

I read The DaVinci Code. Liked it a lot. Don't think I'll ever want to read it again tho'. What's the best thing to do with it now?

I also have lots of my parents old text books from the 1950's.
Is there some place that recycles text books?

If there are old books you have that you don't want then you could always either donate them to charity or donate them to the libary. There is also a really great idea called book crossing This is where people do a controlled release of a book into the "wild" This could be any public place such as a park bench, a train seat, a telephone box, a wall, and so on. Inside is information about bookcrossing and a note asking you to go to the web site to say you have found the book and what you think of it. You can also hunt for books. Each time a book is relased into the wild it has a release note on the web site that details where and when it's been left. If you are near enough you can go try and find it!

Of course, failing those things you can always sell them on Ebay or Amazon.

For me personally, I just can't part with my lovely books! I did join book crossing because I think it's such a beautiful idea but I found I just could not really part with my books

I not only read my books but also am a collector of books so even if I don't like a book then I still keep it.

i found one of the book crossing books onetime. it was one of the sherlock holmes books. however i found it on the reading table next to the chairs in the bookstore where i worked and no one would take as they felt like they might be shoplifting, so we moved it to the coffee shop next door and posted it on the site.
i usually circulate books among friends and family and unless i make a huge effort to get it back, i often never see them again.
share the love.

trade them in at the used book store...

and get even MORE books, bwah-hah-hah!!!

book crossing

Book crossing is a totally cool idea.
Has a certain romance about it too.

What about old text books? My dad was a phd chemist. I have volumes of organic chemistry books from the 1950's. Any suggestions?
Do you think a University Library would take them?
Librarians speak up please.

When I finished books which I don't want to keep, I give them away to Bookcrossing Meetup. Also I donate to charity shop as well. If I like the books that I will keep them.

I burn them and do an evil dance around the fire.

I keep 99.9% of my books, creating huge headaches around where to keep them. The very few that I disliked, or knew I was never going to read again, I have given to the charity shop or sold them on Ebay.

I keep all books that I do not hate. But then, the ones that aren't my favorites get sold off when I need money. We recently went through tough times and I had to sell six boxes of books. That sucked.

But now I can afford not only to keep the reast but continue to procure more. I worked this past Saturday and earned $75 worth of used books. The guy has great prices too so I got a lot of terrific books. Should keep me busy for a while.

~Witch

Great works, I keep for life. Else donate to charity. Amazon marketplace is a good place to sell old books, if you wish; never tried it though.

help to your families

For those of you that are book pack-rats, keep in mind that someday a loved one may have to do something with all those books. If it's a stranger cleaning out after you most of the books will probably become landfill.

I am cleaning out my mom's house. She passed away 7 months ago. What to do with shelves full of old, dusty, cracking versions of books is a painstaking issue. How many do you keep? What do you do with the others? What if you don't have the room?

You may consider making an effort to write down what you would like to
have happen with the books you will leave behind. Just a thought from one who's having to clean up after a wondeful life was cut down just a bit too short.

Sorry for your loss

I keep all my books, I want to have a big library in the house I'll get at some point.