Other services offer related services. Most notable of these is BookCrossing, combing a love of books, a need for books on a budget and scavenger hunts in one web application. What do you do if you don’t have the time or inclination to go digging around a random local park bench for a book someone left there in a baggie a week earlier? Sign up for BookMooch.

BookMooch is the individual, personalized version of exchanging books online with strangers. Sure, BookMooch also offers a certain social aspect key to any Web 2.0 application these days. You can’t have a Web 2.0 presence these days without friendships.

On BookMooch, you can make friends with other people who share your taste in books. You can join their forums and discuss your recent reads with other users. You can even find BookMooch on the ever popular game SecondLife, proving you can be literary andtechnical at the same time.

BookMooch works on a point system. You accumulate points by sharing your finished books with the world. Each time you list as book as available for mooching, you gain a tenth of a point. Once you accumulate a full point, you can mooch a book off of someone else. Each time you actually mail a book to someone, you also gain a point.

The only real cost you incur as a member of BookMooch is postage. You can restrict where your books are available for mooching to keep the cost of your postage down. When I set up my account with BookMooch I restricted myself to the United States, knowing I had limited funds for mailing books to people.

BookMooch also works with several charities. One example of BookMooch working with charities allows you to give your points to local childrens’ hospitals so a sick child can have a free book. You can also give your points (which translates into free books) to local libraries and other charitable causes.

BookMooch makes money by having affiliate links from Amazon on their site. Each time you click on one of the book descriptions, you are taken to an Amazon page. If you make a purchase, BookMooch gets a small percentage of your purchase.

The BookMooch interface provides a smooth way to search for and obtain books with no fuss, no muss. It also helps you reduce clutter by getting rid fo the books piling up on the floor by your bed before they take over your space, not to mention offering you a chance to do some good for charity if your heart desires. Plus it does all of this without breaking your wallet.

My original version found at Profy site.