Greatest Thing Ever!

Perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but LibraryThing has just made my life much easier. Several times I’ve begun to catalogue my books and failed. Sometimes failure would come as I tired of typing the ISBNs, titles, authors, and other data for hundreds of books. Other times, the failure would stem from some technical difficulty as I tried to design a database.

Well, I am happy to report that, almost a year ago, Tim Spalding decided to take charge and solve my library troubles. Tim has designed a fantastic site that not only allows me to compile an electronic record of my library by entering a bare minimum of data (so far I’ve added almost 50 books by entering only their ISBNs), but a site that provides social networking opportunities and much more. In less than a year, LibraryThing has grown into a sizeable and robust site that far outstrips the abilities of any cataloguing system I ever planned.

Curious how esoteric your library is? Look at the “fun statistics”! Wondering how many other compulsive book buyers own a copy of that dreadful novel? Just view the book. Want to know what others thought of a work? Look at the social information to see how others have rated it and to read reviews.

Oh, and the best thing? LibraryThing is free! There is no charge to add up to 200 books. When you want to add more than 200, you can pay a onetime fee of $25 or a yearly fee of $10. Considering the time and frustration that Tim is saving me, I will be happy to fork over $25 as soon as I hit the limit.

I hope to begin to link reviews on this site to LibraryThing. Let me know what you think!