Jason Thompson's Profile

This is Jason Thompson, I just want to respond to the comments regarding the alteration of printed books, some folks seem to feel this is sacrilegious. This is an excerpt from the forward of my book:

"Favorite, well-read books; carefully organized bookshelves; the smell of a used bookstore; endless aisles of library stacks, this is the familiar face of the book lover's world. But to fully understand the industry of publishing and bookmaking, we have to consider too the lowly computer manual, indispensable one moment, in the garbage the next, as well as the myriad textbooks, self help guides, recipe collections, political tomes, and contemporary novels, once timely then forgotten. The publishing industry sold 3.08 billion books in 2008. This inevitably results in many, many books finding their way into remainder bins to be picked over for a while, then eventually, if we're to be honest, into the recycling bin and landfill."

When someone thinks it's best to keep the books, instead of turning them into art, what does that mean? Keep them on a bookshelf, where they really won't be seen many times again. The science fiction books I used for this project were 25¢ each. I don't think it wise to tear apart collectible or readable books, but lets be honest, the remainder bins at used bookstores should be fair game as resources for bookish projects.

In order to take books apart, they need to be handy, and raiding one's book collection isn't the the right place to look for unwanted books. We all own a book or two we can do without, but having boxes of books of different sizes, topics and bindings is a resource much like a paint box is to a painter. Boxes of unwanted books are easier to find than you might think, here are a few resources:

<B>The library
I contacted the fundraising group for our local library branch, and asked if they had books left over from their annual book sales. I was invited to the library and was lead to a basement room with literally thousands of books piled in tumbling towers of boxes and told to help myself. Libraries are continually acquiring new books, but they're also disposing of them regularly too.

<B>Classifieds
Enter "Free Books" into the FOR SALE section of any of the numerous online classified ad websites and you'll be amazed at the amount of listings there are on any given day.

<B>Used bookstores
Most used bookstores have books in their storage rooms which they can't or won't sell. One of the local booksellers in my hometown had several boxes in a back room they were more than happy to give away. Another has a permanent "FREE BOX" in the doorway regularly overflowing with unwanted books.

<B>The Dump
Depending on what kind of municipal dump is in your town, it might have an area specifically set aside for visitors to drop off items for others to salvage. One of the dumps a few towns away from us has even set up a "bookshelf" specifically set aside for books.

<B>The side of the road
This may not be the first place to look for books, but once the idea of recycling books into art is planted, the odd box of books can show up anywhere, including the side of the road on garbage night.

Thanks!
Jason Thompson
http://www.ragandbone.com