In 2004, the word BookCrossing was actually added to the Oxford English Dictionary and defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place so that another person can find it, read it and then leave it where somebody else will find it”.

BookCrossing, an online network, refers to itself as “the world's library”.

Here’s how it works:

Rather than letting your read books collect dust, you pass them along to another reader, either someone specific or, more commonly for BookCrossing, and as per the OED definition, to someone you don’t know yet who picks up a “travelling” book that you’ve just left out there somewhere in the world … in a café, on a bench, in a park, wherever … But, before you “released” it, you registered it at bookcrossing.com and labelled it with a message that included a unique number that was given to you by the system.

When someone “captures” your book, they can enter the unique number into a field on the homepage at bookcrossing.com to see where this book has journeyed, and read comments from the readers through whose hands the book has travelled.

Once you’re done with the book, you can go back online to release it back into the wild … and if you’re curious you can always come back, armed with the same ID number to check on that particular book’s journey.

BookCrossing.com users can also “go hunting” by visiting the website to view a list of books that have recently been released in your proximity, then go to the location where it was left to "catch" it.

This system effectively turns the whole world into a giant outdoor lending library.

To quote Henry Miller from The Books In My Life (1969):

“A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.”

There are currently 1,936,764 registered BookCrossers and 14,503,451 books travelling throughout 132 countries. The BookCrossing mission is the same as it was when it launched all those years ago: “to connect people through books”.

The community aspect of BookCrossing.com has grown and expanded in ways that were not expected at the outset, in the form of blog or forum discussions, mailing lists and annual conventions throughout the world. The location of the anniversary convention changes each year, e.g. the location for the April 2025 convention will be Wageningen in The Netherlands.

So, how did it all get started?

Although, at the time, there were websites tracking things such as dollar bills and pictures, tech-savvy veterinarian and entrepreneur Ron Hornbaker noted that nothing existed for tracking books, items that were intrinsically shareable. This was the catalyst for his development of BookCrossing. With help from wife Kaori, and cofounders Bruce and Heather Pedersen, he built and launched the BookCrossing website on 21 April 2001.

The Pedersons continue to run BookCrossing from a small HQ in Sandpoint, Idaho, with help from a network of generous volunteers from around the world.

Postscript
In August 2024 REMORANDOM decided to get involved by releasing several copies of each book into the wild. There’s a very nice shelter and bench overlooking the expanse of Bondi Beach that doubles as a perfect release point :) It will be fun to see what book ends up where … to spread the joy.
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References

bookcrossing.com
wikipedia.org/wiki/BookCrossing

Images

1. BookCrossing logo
2. Ron Hornbaker
3. BookCrossing in Leipzig. Photo credit: Joeb07
4. BookCrossing in Lyon. Photo credit: Alexandre Duret-Lutz
5. BookCrossing at Kozminski University in Warsaw. Photo credit: Adrian Grycuk
6. BookCrossing of Jane Austen's Emma outside the Flatiron Building in New York, October 2008
7. Sky excitedly shows Lara and Serena her BookCrossing capture, Neighbours Episode 4611, 15 November 2004
8. REMORANDOM BookCrossing inside front cover sticker design
9. REMORANDA ready to be released into the wild via BookCrossing.com