A thoughtful option for holiday book buying

For those of you hoping to give and receive lots of books this holiday season, here's another interesting option to making that trip to the mall.

Better World Books offers over two million "gently used" titles online – books they say would otherwise have ended up as  landfill. They offer free shipping anywhere in the US and $3.97 anywhere else in the world.

When they do ship packages, they certify that each one is carbon offset.

On their website they recommend staff picks and offer gift certificates. If you type in your zip code they will also help you find sidewalk book sales in your area.

(For those who prefer new books to used, there is also an option to search for new titles along with the used.)

There's definitely an enhanced altruism to this form of book giving. The company claims that to date they have saved 13,411,606 books from landfills and have also raised almost $5 million for literacy programs worldwide.

Check them out at www.betterworld.com. Giving books as gifts is always a good idea. This could be even better.