I own so many books that I will never read but find it difficult to get rid of any of my books. I often think about what I'd actually miss if my house burned down. Another way to ask the question is what would I grab if my house were on fire. Simple: my computer (thankfully, a notebook computer), my wallet and passport, and maybe some pictures. All my books could burn without any long-term loss. In other words, the vast majority of my books sit around, gathering dust, weighing me down -- much like lugging around an extra ten pounds of fat all the time.

I resolved that I would start shedding my collection with my set of science books. On Sunday, as I was about to head off to church, I reached for the first such book I could find: From Physical Concept to Mathematical Structure: An Introduction to Theoretical Physics . Instead of steeling my resolve to simplify my life, alas, holding and paging through the book made me relive some of the longings that prompted the purchase of such books in the first place.

Various schemes have crossed my mind for getting rid of my books. I've toyed with selling them for money, to places like half.com. Maybe I would lend them all out. As Chris pointed out yesterday, there is even a Distributed Library Project that helps people in the SF Bay Area share their books and videos with each other. Perhaps, I would just give away the books, drop them off at locations I publicize so that others can find them (as in the bookcrossing model).

The latest idea that I've come up is this: if there is someone who could provide a good home for one of my books or CD and who would take me out for lunch to convince me of that fact, I would give that person the book or CD in question. I figure that the Berkeley campus is full of people who could be simultaneously appreciative recipients of my books and stimulating lunch companions. I'm not sure exactly how to pull this off though. Matching people to books is not going to be easy.

This process struck me as ideal. Sure, I can make some money from reselling books -- but I don't really want to manage the process, quite frankly. I want my books to circulate and I love great conversation with smart people. It is surprisingly difficult to meet people from different fields on the campus, however. I want to find some way to do so in a fun way.

BTW, this type of offer extends to my friends too! If you see a book that I own and can make a good case for why I should give it to you -- and if I'm ready to part with it -- then take me out for lunch and the book will be yours.