barter.li: connecting books with their readers

barter.li

So, you are broke, but you cannot resist buying the bestseller everyone is talking about?

That famous book is being adapted into a movie, and online stores are running out of copies?

You need that book for a project or assignment and in a bad turn of events, it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere?

Or do you have a rusty bookshelf, with tons of books you read a long time back? Why not share them with others?

barter.li is the place to be.

Logo:

A small tribute to Aaron Swartz and a step towards continuing his legacy!

Yes, that is the philosophy behind barter.li

Aaron Swartz was a computer programming prodigy and activist who played an instrumental role in the campaign for a free and open Internet and used technology to fight social, corporate and political injustices.

Aaron Swartz stood for what he believed was fair and just. In his fight against SOPA he helped preserve our freedom to connect and with his several other contributions he preserved our freedom to collaborate. His life and work were testimony to his love for solving society’s problems with technology. His life inspires us to have curiosity and stand by our sense of righteousness. A year back he left us all and the world was a lesser place. Especially moved by his efforts to free knowledge and would like to carry forward his legacy, the founders at barter.li kickstarted an open source and community led project to enable and encourage free exchange of knowledge.

Wanna know how it works:

How is it different?

So, well, you may ask this app has been made for booklovers, so what?

This app is literally a trailblazer. The idea is simple – to create a virtual community of book lovers who can buy/sell/barter books with other like-minded people; but the scale is large – we want a global audience. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the app is just unbelievable, the dream of every bibliophile.

Remember those cartons full of books you have lying in the garage and cupboards? Imagine if you could trade every book you own for books that you’ve always wanted to read.

This app precisely lets you do that- on a global scale!

Our review: 

We give this app Thumbs up for its intention, simplicity and for the gap that it seeks to fill up.

Download it here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=li.barter&ah=xEyzfuJsdDcn20CStqmoSb2P2Ck

Snapshot of the app:

Our Verdict: 

This app, just like the love for reading that it promotes, is sui generis.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/barterli

Website: http://barter.li/

On Twitter @barterli

On Instagram barterliofficial

On pinterest barter.li

Google+ : https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/114313902881270862518

Lending books is not my business

Recently I lent a book to a friend who is not so much into reading and books like the bibliophile in me, but nevertheless was interested by the theme of that little piece of non-fiction that shone like a pearl in my hands, credits it’s flawlessly designed cover and the immaculate white color which covered most part of it.

DON'T TRY THIS WITH MY BOOKS

So, feeling like I am on a mission to spread knowledge and provide everyone with the book that suits them, while hoping that they shall also one day appreciate the habit of reading, the power of literature et al. Alas! this idealistic vision of mine turned out to be too utopian to be true, and refuted all my noble anticipations in the cruelest way possible.

Okay, so I had heard this enough number of times to get it etched into my memory that borrowed books are seldom returned. But considering the stickler that I am when it comes to my prized possessions, I was sure that this won't be the case, and that I shall be getting my book back as soon as my friend is done with the task at hand

So I was confident that what is mine shall come back to me, and I shall personally and keenly see to it that it does!

UNDERSTAND?

However, what I was not prepared for was this: receiving the book back after dispatching incessant reminders, occasionally hinting that I crave to see my baby back, commenting how borrowing is not a very noble deed (in an entirely different context, of course), and making a hell lot of excuses to make the urgency to have the book back sound genuine. No that’s not it: receiving it in a torn condition, so tainted and coal-resembling that I had to actually remember what its cover page looked like before this misfortune befell me. *sigh* 

And you know that thin layer of plastic which shields a book from potent dangers like the dirty hands, uncontrolled pens of careless people? That was gone too.

And I am not exaggerating (except that comparison to coal).

Book lovers out there, you know that feeling, right? It elicits a reaction similar to this

 

followed by sobbing...

Now I have decided, that no matter how weird or annoying I may sound, I am always going to launch into this didactic instruction list prior to lending a book to a person who is not as fervent a bibliophile as me!

1)      Books are for reading, you may at the most devour them and chew them and digest them, (in case you took Francis bacon just too literally), but they don’t have a digestive system. So kindly keep your pickles and cheetos-soiled fingers away (gosh! You still eat them? anyways, my book doesn’t, so mind the distance)

2)      Oh, and my book doesn’t have any immune system to make sure that it doesn’t get ill by the dust. And there are other functional reasons as well for providing that transparent plastic foil-cover. So if you ever feel like rolling your fingers with my book in your hand, make sure you have a stapler/punching machine to put your mischievous little fingers into, and end it once and for all.

3)      I guess you get real confused when its time to bathe, because you bathe my book instead of yourselves! Don’t worry my book wont ever emit the foul smell that you do.

4)      Gain all knowledge that you can, this is going to be the only time I am gonna lend you my book, never again, because I won't like to mar the beauty of my library.

(especially after seeing how badly you have thumbed it at the edges, giving it a look of a old book straight rescued from termites).

IF YOU DON'T LEARN HOW TO READ!

 Trust me, I am sure of that.