Do You Throw Away Old Books?

No..No..No.. and still a big fat NO! I don't throw away books, and don't bear to throw them away! i still have textbooks from my primary school kept for over 15 years still with me, and still in very good conditions! Lol.. it could be that I am just so in love with books that I just could not bear to let go of them! Not even the old, weathered ones. Oh well, that is just me! I love to hoard things, even things that I have not touched in years! That's the thing about books. They have a sort of 'magic' over their readers, especially to those who just love books! And book lovers will always find themselves with more books with each passing year, and no decrease in the number of books which they have! Pretty soon, when they reached their middle age, they can well open a bookstore with all the books that they have in their possession. =D It's great to find someone who is also a book lover like you! (i'm guessing that you are.. Lol.. correct me if I am wrong, ok?) And I can totally understand why you can't bear to throw away your old books! Well, welcome to the club, I would say. There are many ways to get rid of old books.. some to earn money, some out of goodwill, and some you can change for stuff! In Singapore, we have the following choices: 1) There is the once a month exchange programme here in Singapore whereby we can exchange books and magazines for food items! It's like 4kg of recyclables can entitle you for 1 food coupon or something like that. So, we will drag in all our old books and exchange for food, settling our living expenses for that month! 2) Rental bookstores will take in books that are still in relatively good condition. These books can be sold to them, and they will pay you a reasonably good price for them. 3) Sell them online in platforms such as Ebay! You will find book lovers from around the world who might want to buy those books that you no longer wants, or you can always have a listing for no cost and set up an exchange programme whereby you exchange the book for another title! 4) Here, we have a programme known as book cross. This is where we can drop off books that we no longer wants at selected places and exchange them for other titles that are placed there by other book crossers. It's somesort like a library with no library cards or fines invovled! And you are always ensured of new books to read without having to fork out more money! These are some ways of getting rid of old books, and getting new ones in exchange or cash for them. =) Hope that I have helped! Well, take care and if you always want, you can give them to me for free! Hehe.. I will always welcome books of all genres! (just joking!)

i used to donate all my old books to the library. the libraries around here hold book sales all the time, and if they are in ok condition then they will sell them at the sale. i get a receipt and can write it off on our tax returns. :) a few months ago i found a website that i have been using now, though. it is called paperbackswap.com. you sign up (it's free) and you can list however many books that you have that you would like to get rid of. other members all over the country do the same thing, and it's basically a huge book swap. it lists all the books available for trade in the system, and you receive credits for swapping books. you pay for the shipping to send a book requested from you by another user, and they in turn pay the shipping when you want a book of theirs. it's great because you can save your credits for however long until a book you may want becomes available. you can add books to a wish list and they will contact you when it is available. :) the nice thing is that once you get a book from someone and read it, you do not have to put it back into the system- you can keep it if you want. i have been a member for about 6 months now and i love it. :) just an idea for you!

I don't like throwing anything away so to speak, I either try and sell things on Ebay or if they are not the sort of thing that will sell then I give to op shops as I think someone may get some use out of them, I hate waste and if something I have can make someone happy then thats good.

I have trouble GIVING away books, I certainly won't throw them away. I have tons of books here, some read, some not. I can't bring myself to get rid of them and am running out of places to keep them. I started giving away duplicates through bookcrossing.com. In fact I was just thinking about it today because I have old church missals and lector workbooks. Do I throw them in the recycle bin? It just doesn't seem right to pitch religious books, even if they are outdated.

{GASP} Throw away books? Bite your Tongue!!! I have books that date back to the 1800's. I have books that my kids read when they were little. Many of them have pages missing and they're in BAD shape, but I still have one daughter who hasn't started her family yet, so I have to keep them! I will admit that I've been known to donate books, especially paperbacks, to the local library, but throw them away? NO! NEVER!

That's the thing about books. As long as they are readable, there's no reason to get rid of them. You still might want to look at them one day! It's probably somewhat easier to sell them or give them away.

same here!!! i like to collect books especially those history books and stories that i liked..i had some books and been piled up on my shelf..same goes with magazines and any reading materials that i consider useful in the near future and of great help especially on research on my children on their studies...

I was bought up with a Grandfather that had roomfulls of books. Life was never boring, he could bring everything life, even the most boring of subject came alive. I was in awe at all these volumes that contained life and verse and humour. I thank my Grandad for my love of books and giving me the ability to realise their value is much higher than anything played on a screen for you, after all when you read you get to cast the characters and the scenes in your imagination. I know when a book has had its time or it was just a fad read so these I pass to the charity shops for someone else to enjoy.

Yes, I'm the same, and so is my husband. Our bookshelves are full and neither of us like to throw away books, even ones that don't interest us any more. There's something about books which you want to keep, they're special in a way that other possessions are not! Plus you never know when you might want to read them (for the first time, or again and again!) We also still sometimes buy more books, new or secondhand, and if this trend continues I'm not sure where they're going to go! We're thinking of replacing the shelves with wider ones, or building them upwards!

I pass books that I'm no longer using on to the local library or to our local thrift shop where they will be sold to provide money for local charities. My son sells his books back to a discount used book store.

No, I do not throw any of my collection books in which I always keep it with me in the library book in the house and most of the time I always let a friend of mine borrowed a book of mine..........

well, i won't throw away my old books... i like to read, and i like to keep the book that i really like so i can read it again and again... so i will just keep all the books... well, i hv a few cupboard and box to keep my books... cause i really have a lots of books...

Me too, I can't seem to throw away my old books and some magazines, I always feel somehow that they may still have some kowledge that might be usefull for me or to someone I know. I try to cover them and stack they properly ina box and put them away.

My husband and I rarely get rid of books, either. You never know when you'll want to read them again! With textbooks that I don't want anymore, I will sell them back online. Otherwise, I will sometimes donate books to libraries, hospitals, any fitting environment for the genre of the book. Sometimes, it's easy to trade some books with my parents, too.

No .I never throw away my books.I treasure them and keep them arranged in my book shelf.There is always room in my book shelf for the new ones as the old ones borrowed are never returned.Do you think that this s a way of getting rid of books?

Hi biwasaki, I agree with you. It is a bit difficult to throw away books, no matter old or torn or unwanted, because we are taught to respect books, which gives us so much information and knowledge and helps us to present ourselves as decent person in society.So we understand the value of books and are emotionally attached to them. But we cannot keep such piles of books with us for ever and ever as they will be as good as useless junk which will be finally eaten up by insects. So I think good books should be donated to library or to needy people. And other stuffs can be sold out the factories who use old paper to make new fresh paper. This way we will not feel guilty about giving away the books and something useful will come out of it.. So we can give happy ending to the books and happy smile to our lips.....Have a nice day.

I tend to donate those books which I no longer want or need. We have way too many books but I have a difficult time parting with them. The only books that I will throw away/destroy or those that I find to be sinful in content.

I do not think I have ever thrown out a book unless something spilled on it and ruined it or I got it somewhere and didnt realize until I got home that it had mold or something on it. I could never just throw away a book just because I was done with it. I can't imagine anyone doing that but I'm sure there are people out there who don't care and just toss anything they don't want instead of trying to find someone who would enjoy it instead of cluttering up the landfill. What I do to get rid of books I am done with is either sell them on ebay if they are good selling books or give them to friends or family. If all else fails I offer them on freecycle. If that still didnt work then I would take them to the salvation army. The salvation army is also a great place to get books very low priced! Of course I only buy the ones that are in excellent condition with no writing in them or missing pages!

I also have the same feeling as you. I can't throw any books, no matter how bad the condition is. I feel throwing a book is like doing a great sin.

Absolutely hate throwing away books and if I can help it I dont. There are so many different ways out there that you can dispose of a book without actually chucking it away...the most obvious one being donating it to charity. Charity shops sell on old bric a brac and the proceeds go to charity therefore it's comforting to know someone is using the book after you instead of just binning it and it never getting used again. Another good idea which I have done a couple of times is book swapping. They carry this out in my local hospital, some libraries offer this service and there are websites which enable users to swap books. This not only saves you money because you wont have to buy your next book but it gives you a sense of contentment knowing you didn't bin your book.