Book Ranching
“Now, Jim will wrestle the wild book, while I stand here sipping tea in safety.”
Remember Wild Kingdom? Where poor Jim had to wrestle the deadly anaconda, while Marlon Perkins stayed all nice and safe with the camera crew? Remember Jacques Cousteau chasing the “wiley and elusive” sea creature of the moment? Well, now you can watch books in the wild, too. Okay, that was a goofy lead-in to this, but bear with me.
While I was looking for something else on the Internet the other day, I came accross something called BookCrossing. It’s a simple concept, really. Just mark a book with information about the service, register it on their website, then, set the book loose “in the wild”. Now, as people read the book, they sign into the website and journal about it. They might review it or just talk about where they found it or whatever. Then, they pass it on to another person or location. Rinse, repeat. So it goes, ad infinitum, supposedly. I have to admit, it might be an interesting experiment to try. I wonder where the book might travel and who might read it. Following a book like that might make for some interesting fiction, too. The Life and Travels of a Book
Well, whatever, I thought it was cool, so I decided to share. Enjoy!
