Sign It And Pass It On

In a long discussion the other evening with a friend, I was told about a simple but neat idea.

Basically, you sign your name on the inside cover of a book and pass it on with instructions that the recipient do the same.

My friend said it's really cool to leave the book in a place where it can be seen, like on a park bench or on a counter in a store, and then hang around long enough to see who picks it up.

And it's best to leave a really good book, a book that everyone should read, such as:

• Catch-22 by J. D. Salinger
• Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• Walden by Thoreau
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
• Illusions by Richard Bach
• Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Aside from the obvious good spreading of generosity and books, there's always the hope that in the future someone will lend the book back to you and this time the inside cover will be full of names.

I'm going to do that. I'm going to leave a book with my name inside the front cover either on a park bench downtown or on a chair here in the library or on a table in a restaurant. I'm going to hang around and see who picks it up. Now, all I have to do is decide which book I want to leave. And that's the hardest part!

Why don't you give it a try, too? Remember, it has to be a book of good value. Wouldn't it be great to get the same book back someday and see how many people's hands it has traveled through? Kinda like that old adage...what goes around, comes around.

(Source: PineLeaf@Everything2.com)