For the Love of Books is my very own weekly Sunday meme dedicated to the wacky, weird, and wild world-wide-web finds related to the world of books. Topics can be anything ranging from unique bookcases, sculptures of books, and odd bookstores, to interesting uses for books, book quotes, bits of book news, etc. I love web-surfing and I have come across so many ideas that the possibities for this meme are nearly endless! If you would like to join in the fun, snag the image on the left and post the link your specific blog post in comments so that others can read about your internet find!
So for my first week, I discovered a Netflix-style internet service for book rentals. I used Netflix for awhile years ago and loved the convenience of it, so this is a fantastic idea for those who don't want to bother with libraries, which have late fees, due dates, limited hours, limited selections, and long lines for borrowing new or popular titles. The name of the site is Bookswim.com, and a person can choose book rental plans for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 11 books a month with only the 1 book-a-month plan charging shipping. Bookswim offers paperbacks, hardcovers, and now textbooks through Chegg.com. If a person wants to keep a book, they only have to pay the members-only used book price, and if the site doesn't have a particular title, Bookswim will buy it. The cost of renting per book is about half the price of buying hardcovers, so if you are a fan of hardcover books, this is the way to go!
Another great benefit of using Bookswim is the benefit to the environment - renting books cuts down on the number of trees used in the production of virgin paper for books as well as the gallons of gasoline used in driving to and from the library or bookstore. The bags used to ship books to and from subscribers are made from 100% plastic, and for every gift card sold Bookswim plants a tree in partnership with EcoLibris.net.
I personally find the library a better option for my needs, but I highly recommend this to anyone who typically spends a lot of money on books or has major issues with using library services.
0 comments:
Post a Comment