By Ruel S. De Vera, Associate Editor
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

I REALIZE I’ve broached this somewhat in an earlier blog entry, but I think it is important to emphasize how books can have a second life.

Instead of just lying somewhere in your abode gathering dust or (worse) being used as appetizer by rats, books can begin a new journey, be appreciated by another person. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Give them to someone specific: Books can sometimes be valuable precisely because they are used–by you. When you give them to a friend, it is an act of affection for both the friend (only good friends would have his experience) and the book (precious enough to be given to someone who will take care of them). It is just a matter of finding the right book for the right person; blindly giving your books away is fine if the whole point was to be giving them to just anyone. Irrepressible readers can appreciate pretty much any book. But the closer the book to the nature of the recipient the better; cookbooks
for that aspiring chef, biographies for that friend in HR, and so on. Popular books like the Harry Potter or Twilight books work for pretty much anyone as long as they don’t hav e those yet. Your scribblings among the pages serve to make the book even more personal; do make the effort to write a dedication.

2) Sell them: It may feel like a cold-blooded act, but selling books is part of the cycle as well. Booksales are common enough events on college campuses, but now you can sell your books to either second-hand bookstores or on eBay. Just remember the key is to price the book accordingly, the more worn, the lower the price. Also it should not have any dedications and such; those actually lower the price. Popular or rare books will be easy to move; more obscure ones less so. Just remember, even if you paid this much for a book, you cannot base the new price on that. This is particularly true for comic books and graphic novels. The book travels to the hands of someone who will appreciate it and you get a bit of cash to buy more books. You will have to decide which titles you have that can sell and it helps to have someone who already sells books to begin with. Otherwise, you will have to either sell them yourself or learn how to do it on the Internet.

3) Donate them: High schools, grade schools and colleges still do have actual brick-and-mortar libraries and they still welcome books to add to their collection. This is one case where obscure titles might find a home, but remember to keep the books appropriate to where you’re donating. Good childrens lit titles for grade school, textbooks for high school, and so on. This is the way by which you can move the most books, but you have to ask the libraries first if they are accepting contributions. You should look around for a library that really needs your books. You will also have to bring the books to the library yourself. By the way, complete encyclopedias make great donations.

Feel free to suggest more. Any of these would be better than either burning the books (never!) or to just throw them away (gasp!) to clear space. Save a book today and your soul will thank you for it.

Get more ideas for recycling with the October 19, 2008 issue of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine.