Are these books worth keeping?

The year 2007 brought about The Great Book Purge. Our personal library has been slowly growing and we have insufficient space for them. To inflict our books on someone else’s bookshelves, I set up accounts at half.com, Bookins, and Bookmooch.

To get started, I checked the value of each of my books on half.com. Any books worth more than a few bucks ($5+) I listed on half.com for a little less than the highest priced similar item. Most of those books sold within a week, clearing off almost an entire shelf.

I listed another batch of books on Bookins, a book swapping site. On Bookins, the buyer pays $4.95 for shipping. The seller (me) gets a USPS label printed with the persons address. I have only to wrap the book, tape on the label, and drop it in the mail. After a month, I’ve shipped off a half dozen books and have a bunch of points in my Bookins account. However, I’ve only received a couple books of my wishlist. Bookins only has a couple thousand members and most book trades are fiction, a genre I have little interest in.

The last site I’ve been using is BookMooch. As with Bookins, on Bookmooch I created a list of books I wanted and books to purge. When a book I want becomes available, I get an email alert and can request the book from the giver. The giver pays the postage to send the book to me. They gets points when I receive the book and those points are redeemable for books that they want. It’s a pretty good system and my biggest complaint is that with BookMooch, as a giver I must take the book to the Post Office due to new Media Mail regulations enacted in October. It would be most excellent if I could print online postage as Bookins does.

While going through our books, some stand out as truly excellent books that deserve a mention. Here are my three favorite books on child raising.

Why Gender Matters

Seasons of Life

Making Children Mind
Without Losing Yours