No word from BookCrossing.com as to what I did to get suspended, despite me asking a few times. So far as I can see, I’ve done nothing wrong and behaved with more restraint in difficult circumstances than I have in the past, and played far nicer than some in the forums. On reviewing my contributions, I can see two possibilities: 1. A thread about cooking...

My previous post, on my surprise suspension from BookCrossing.com, hit a new record for page views on this site. Kind of sad, really, compared to the good news stories I prefer to tell. But there’s a follow-up story now, and this story is that there is no follow-up. I was suspended without warning or explanation, restored a day or two later, again without...

I buy BookCrossing.com wings every month or so. Five dollars for a month of extra benefits and ad-free BookCrossing is a bargain. Besides, the money goes to support the site’s operation, and I know that it is an expensive business, run with a handful of staff and a team of unsung volunteers. Bruce and Heather Pedersen are the management team, and every...

22 Feb 2012

John Locke, the director (and so far only staff member) of New York’s Department of Urban Betterment, has set to work transforming the city’s largely obsolete public phones into modular libraries. A custom-built set of shelves slips neatly over the phone in a standard enclosure. The pieces can be pre cut according to published plans, carried as a...

15 Feb 2012

News is coming in from across Australia, of city, state and federal governments joining BookCrossing.com as part of their participation in the “National Year of Reading“. This excellent scheme, initiated by Australian libraries, is bringing together libraries, readers, governments, booksellers, schools, writers, the media, and now BookCrossing.com!...

14 Feb 2012

Just browsing Kickstarter – as one does – and I noticed their featured project, which must surely hit home with every BookCrosser. Kickstarter? Why, it’s a fundraising site, where people with projects, adventures and schemes sell their dream to others, who can kick in a few dollars. If all those donations add up to enough to get the thing...

From the Netherlands comes a dream assignment for three university students: make a short film about BookCrossing! “The paperback Traveller” is a movie made by three students of the Eindhoven University of Technology in the period September 2011 – January 2012. Making the movie was part of the course Capita Selecta Urban design of the...

12 Jan 2012

If I couldn’t live in Canberra, I think Christchurch would be the place to hang my heart. A beautiful city: peaceful, elegant, comfortable. Some of the older buildings are gems of architecture, and there is nothing quite like a punt ride down the Avon through the Botanic Gardens. The city square beside the cathedral is the bustling hub of the city, full of...