Re: Book Burning

[Tracy St Claire <tasaint@COMCAST.NET>]

This guy is single-handedly supporting this whole venture but he
shouldn't get first dibs on the
free books to help him do it?  Other booksellers and ebay sellers
should get to cherry-pick the
good ones to sell instead of him?

I don't see why. These books were donated to find better homes; he's
doing that.  You all know
he'll be lucky to earn health insurance and a retirement income if he
indeed pays off that
mortgage.

The Baltimore Sun and other press should look elsewhere for a good
story. Tell the Smiley
story and the others like it for a change.

Tracy St Claire



On May 29, 2007, at 8:12 PM, info@DAVENPORTBOOKS.COM wrote:

> FYI: It seems he doesn't always just give them away:
>
> Controversial Thing
> The Baltimore Sun reports that Russell Wattenberg, who runs the city's
> Book Thing--which collects used books and gives them away for free by
> the thousands--also culls out books of particular value and sells
> "about
> 2,000 a year, far more, apparently, than most donors think," through
> venues like AbeBooks and Amazon.
>
> All of the proceeds support the non-profit book-spreading venture, and
> Wattenberg says "he is also up against a deadline: He has until next
> April to pay off the $208,994 mortgage on his 7,000-square-foot
> store."
> The Sun adds, "No one suggests that Wattenberg is using the
> proceeds for
> anything more than supporting The Book Thing. (He lives in a back
> room.)"
>
> But fellow booksellers "insist that Wattenberg should be more up front
> about the growing number of books he creams from donations, how much
> money he is getting for them online, and how that money is being spent
> at The Book Thing, a charity that has received grants from local
> entities such as the Open Society Institute, the Abell Foundation and
> Kiwanis."
>
> The newspaper found "more than 4,000 titles for sale by a business
> linked to The Book Thing." And "some [booksellers] say they have
> stopped
> donating books to The Book Thing as a result of the increase in online
> sales and report strained relations with Wattenberg, who marks his
> books
> with a 'Not for Resale' stamp and threatens those who try to sell the
> books with legal action."
> Sun
> http://click.email-publisher.com/maagiTIabx618a3fP4tbaeQxXH/
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William M. Klimon" <wklimon@COX.NET>
> To: <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS-L] Book Burning
>
>
> > > There is a better way. Here in Baltimore, we have someone who
> > > just gives
> > > them away to whoever wants them.
> > >
> > > www.bookthing.org
> >
> >
> > Or whoever can pay for them:
> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-
> te.md.ci.books26a
> pr26,0,1923860.story?coll=bal-home-headlines>
> > William M. Klimon
> > william.m.klimon.c87@alumni.upenn.edu