///Metamorphoses-An Understatement of Life///

Sunday, March 24, 2002

Break, break, break
On the cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The Thoughts that arise in me.
-- Tennyson, Break, Break, Break --

Finally, a forum where an individual can publish thoughts without the fear of rejection. What a great idea! Today, I happened upon a program known as "BookCrossing." This is a catch and release program for books, that may be found at www.bookcrossing.com. So what is this program, you ask? It works like this, an individual selects a book from his or her personal inventory of books; once the book is selected, it is then registered at the above site. The site, in return, provides a tracking number for the book (free of charge). Once the book is assigned a number, the individual who owns the book then writes the assigned number, the site's web address, and a brief message as to the purpose of the book's release and the book's original release date somewhere inside of the front cover. The next step is the most difficult part for us bibliomaniacs. The book is left somewhere that someone else can claim it, read it, and hopefully report back as to where they found it. Does this sound crazy yet? Well, it may be somewhat, but it is a lot of fun.

People interest me, and so this pseudosociological experiment was naturally of interest to me also. I chose for this experiment a copy of Hermann Hesse's, Metamorphoses. Perhaps you have read it. It is a collection of short stories, taking its name from one of the stories within. It is a good read if you like Eastern ideology.

So I went to the park -- actually a duck pond -- and I laid the book on a bench. After laying the book down, I walked away. However, I stayed in the vicinity and watched as various people interacted with the book. It was great fun, watching. In all, probably seven people noticed the book over a one hour period. Yet, only one person actually picked it up. He handled the book for a while, curiously looking at its outer cover before opening it. Once opened, I smiled to myself as he read the statement inside about contacting bookcrossing. I think this scared him somewhat, because after reading the statement, he quickly laid the book down and walked off. I couldn't believe it, my first real bite and the fish got off of the hook. Well, seeing as I had other, pressing things to do, I decided that I would leave the book on the park bench and come to check on it later in the day.

I came back about three hours later. It was gone. Perhaps he decided to read it afterall, or perhaps someone else found it. Whatever the case, I hope that it wasn't thrown in the duck pond. I'm going to keep my eye glued to the bookcrossing site. Maybe someone will reply. At any rate, this experiment was fun and I plan to do it again soon. Take care and happy blogging. ; )


pictor 10:14 PM