LibraryThing

I have a friend who always looks inside the bathroom cabinet when she visits someeone else's house. “Remarkable what you can discover!” she says. Personally I cannot resist browsing a bookshelf, in my younger days I could read titles across a room - now I have to go and peer, but it bothers me not at all to do so.

The virtual equivalent of the home bookshelf is LibraryThing Tim Spalding's creation. LibraryThing allows, nay encourages you to upload your library and share and compare it with other members. You can even browse by cover - almost the same as scanning the spines.



LibraryThing is another instance of the live beta, software that is stable enough for use but still in development. Every few days another little feature is added and shown in Tim's blog.

It isn't yet good enough to replace a good library program - I use Book Collector for my 'real' records. But it is the best and simplest on-line library program I've found, and Tim might just add all those missing features given enough time and encouragement.

Now, where can I find the 6,000 extra books I need to have the biggest library on LibraryThing?

Bob

PS LibraryThing is free for the first 200 books, unlimited entries for $10 (year) or $25 (life).