That’s the way the creators of  “BookCrossing”  describe the phenomenon that they hope will “make the whole world a library.”    BookCrossing is a social software application that encourages reading, sharing books, and commenting on them.  Members “release” a favorite, loved book by leaving it in a public place.  The book is marked and labeled with instructions.  The finder of the book will, it is hoped, log in to bookcrossing.com and journal about where and when he or she found the book.  The finder will then re-release the book for others to find.   

The idea is to share the good karma of good books, passing along the pleasure of reading.  The web site contains chat and email features where members can meet and discuss the books they love. Over half a million people are members of BookCrossing. Operating since 2001, the service now signs up about 300 new members every day. More than 3,750,000 books are currently roaming out “in the wild.”  If you find one here in South Carolina, let us know!