Business & Tech
Guilt-Free Book Grab at El Cerrito's 'Utopia' for Readers
A Sacramento Bee reporter browses the shelves — and the customers — at the Bay Area Free Book Exchange.
Sacramento Bee writer Sam McManis didn't expect much when he stopped by the Bay Area Free Book Exchange, El Cerrito's sort-of-cooperative, sort-of-for-profit haven for readers at 10520 San Pablo Ave.
What can you expect, he asked himself, when the books are donated and free?
Then he spotted a copy of the novel The Names, by Don DeLillo, amongst the unsorted clutter of books and found himself willing to bamboozle another browser to claim it for himself.
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He also discovered how it's possible to make a profit, barely, by offering books not-for-sale. Want to help keep the Book Exchange afloat? Bring in an offbeat stapled pamphlet, leave with an armload of best sellers.
You can read McManis's full report in "Discoveries: Free books in El Cerrito" in the Sacramento Bee.
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For more about the Exchange, see "Who's Who: James Miles, Co-founder of the Bay Area Free Book Exchange" on El Cerrito Patch.
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