Books are expensive. This "fun" and worthwhile lesson was besieged on me my first week of blissful higher education academia. From that era on, I have weighed the pros and cons of actually owning books. Is it really important for me to viciously hoard and defend my dusty and decrepit copy of Stephen King’s It? Do I need a library whose volume rivals the mass literary bank that is the New York Public Library?

Yes and no.

I’m a big believer that certain books are absolutely necessary. Now don’t get me wrong, which books you choose to keep in your literary arsenal is a personal decision and not to be taken lightly.

Then there are the outcasts - the books that you and I might deem worthless bundles of massacred tree parts but to somebody else is the book that is responsible for their coming of age or instilled in them that Whales are pretty damn close to impossible to catch unless you fancy a peg leg.

Books are important.

Some people in my generation remember opening their Christmas presents to reveal a brand new 1980s Nintendo system, complete with the colorful block formation graphics made to resemble a sprite and brave Italian plumber. Others remember the smell of elementary school – which by the way seem to all smell exactly the same. I of course remember the first time I received what was my equivalent of my childhood license, the library card.

This feeling is always nostalgic if you’re a huge dork like me and love reading. That’s where Bookmooch.com comes in. A Berkley, California based site founded and run by Webepreneur John Buckman. Bookmooch is innovative not just for the ridiculously adorable title, but for its surprisingly simple book bartering system that can only be described as a literary lover’s dream.

 John the Moochmaker
John Buckman, creator of Bookmooch.com was generous enough with his time to answer a few questions aside from the ones already on his Website.

Born in London, John lived in Paris before traveling across the Atlantic to spend his teenage years in New Haven, Connecticut. After acquiring his Bachelor’s at Bates College and Masters from the Sorbonne, John worked at the Academy for Advanced and Strategic Studies and the Discovery Channel.