Book dealer takes a page from nonprofit for giveaway
A sign reading “495,277 free books given away” hangs above the shoppers perusing the shelves, 10 feet high and stuffed with paperbacks and technical textbooks.
It’s around noon on a Sunday at the Bay Area Free Book Exchange in El Cerrito — about 25 people leaf through books stacked near the wall. A man identifying himself as “Slim Chance” struggles out the front door with a box of 70 historical tomes, walking slowly under the weight.
“I used to buy lots of books,” Slim says, “but I spent a lot of money, and filled up my apartment. These are free. Tough to argue with.”
The premise behind this Bay Area enterprise is simple: People have books they don’t need, and there are people out there who want to read them. In the Exchange, anyone can bring any books they want, and anyone can come and take any books they want.
It’s a model tweaked from a nonprofit Baltimore-run website, the Book Thing of Baltimore, which co-founder James
“If someone wants to come with a shopping cart, they can do it. But we do have to stamp the books.” James Miles, co-founder, Bay Area Free Book Exchange
Miles discovered in 2009 before the start of his Exchange.
Miles, an online book dealer since 1999 and the owner of a warehouse stocked with 500,000 books, was seeking a way to clear out some unsellable titles, and found the Book Thing an intriguing idea, and perhaps a way to collect some books prime for resale.
For book lovers, there are just a few catches: One, each patron must stamp every book he or she takes, or pay a dollar fee (this is to deter reselling the free books). Two, Miles and his media-shy business partner resell a small portion of the donated books to finance the operation.
It’s a win-win for everyone — Miles and his partner dig up hidden book gems, and the customers get as many free books as they want. Well, actually, that’s the third catch — the customers get as many free books as they want, up to 100 books per weekend. Occasionally, exceptions are made, but only for charitable causes.
“We’ve actually helped people build libraries,” Miles says. “We donated a bunch of books to a psych ward at a San Francisco hospital. Otherwise, if someone wants to come with a shopping cart, they can do it. But we do have to stamp the books.”
Miles admits that the Exchange can be a locale for some quirky characters. A couple of years ago, Miles was running the store with a staffer when a short, stocky man came in with a pretty hefty bag of books. Eschewing protocol, the man simply dropped the books on the floor and left.
“Hailey (his staffer) gets to it finally and opens it up,” Miles says. “And there’s some books at the bottom of the bag, but on top of the books is a 4-inch round glass jar with a metal top. Inside, there’s just a little pot. I said, ‘If it disappears at the end of the day, I’m not going to ask any questions.’ ”
Two hours later, a different man — 6 feet 6 and built — walked in and sheepishly told Hailey and Miles that he “forgot something.” Immediately, Hailey got out of her seat and rushed to give him the pot.
“Maybe we facilitated a pot deal,” Miles says. “I hope not.”
Most of the customers’ quirkiness comes in different forms. Slim Chance, the newly mint- ed owner of 70 historical tomes, fit the archetype of what one might assume the typical Bay Area Free Book Exchange customer to be.
“I’m a student of history,” Slim says. “When you are working in the sea of propaganda, modern media, corporate-controlled media, there’s a lot of distortion. People are lazy — they don’t really go to the source material, authors in the time. Fair and balanced means you look at the extreme right and the extreme left.”
So some patrons, like Slim, just wanted some balance with their heavily slanted Leninist literature.
Others, though, come to the Exchange for simpler reasons.
“I have grandchildren, so I look for education stuff for them,” says customer Alaine Arnold. “I tell a lot of people about this place, because so many can’t afford books, or are looking for inspirational books for other people. So I try to spread the word. I love this place.”