5 ms·

I'm not sure about other countries. There is a culture refuse to throw away books in Germany. People would put on the streets for free (I found two interesting

I'm not sure about other countries. There is a culture refuse to throw away books in Germany. People would put on the streets for free (I found two interesting books with this method).

gom_jabbar 7mo ago
German book culture is great! When he was in Karlsruhe to profile Peter Sloterdijk, The New Yorker reporter Thomas Meaney seemed surprised by it: "Over the summer, ordinary Germans who spotted his [Peter Sloterdijk] books in my hands engaged me in conversation on trains, in coffee shops, at universities, and in bookshops." [0] [0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/a-celebrity-philosopher-explains-the-populist-insurgency https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/a-celebrity-ph...
- msskskkd 7mo ago
  wild, when I went to germany I only saw kebabs and barber shops and a rave
  - HackerNewt-doms 7mo ago
    > kebabs and barber shops Living in Germany, I can confirm that it’s part of the everyday scenery here (Stadtbild). > and a rave I can confirm that techno culture is a deeply rooted part of the urban landscape. However, the era of massive, free street parades effectively ended with the 2010 Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg, where a crowd crush claimed many lives. For years, such large-scale public raves vanished due to strict safety regulations. It’s only recently that we’ve seen a revival with 'Rave The Planet' in Berlin—an event led by the original Love Parade founders that attempts to bring techno back to the streets, though under much tighter organizational control.
    - tsoukase 7mo ago
      At that time I used to visit Germany and take part to many Carneval open parties. I intended to even participate in a Love Parade. How did the accident affected other gatherings since then? Open street concerts, Saturday night club districts, Carneval?
- HackerNewt-doms 7mo ago
  Sloterdijk is a rare celebrity philosopher, popularized by his many TV spots. However, whether people actually know his philosophy as well as they know his face is a different story altogether.
  - gom_jabbar 7mo ago
    Agreed. Even assuming that most people aren't deeply familiar with his philosophy, it's still nice for a culture to have something like a celebrity philosopher.
welcome_dragon 7mo ago
I mean what are they going to do? Burn them? Oh wait...
WalterBright 7mo ago
> People would put on the streets for free In the US people put "Little Free Libraries" in their yards. They're all over the place in the Seattle area.
- sitkack 7mo ago
  Some dude was giving away books after his talk at the CPP Users Group in Redmond, got some good sci-fi.
  - WalterBright 7mo ago
    That was me!
- pseudohadamard 7mo ago
  I've seen them in Scandinavian countries as well, glass-fronted cases in front of houses or on trees. There's a few here (not Scandinavia) too, sometimes old refridgerators because they're pretty well sealed against the elements.
mrweasel 7mo ago
Every now and then I need to go to the recycling station here in Denmark. They have a special container/dumpster just for books. The second hand shops will take a small quantum of books, stores the buy and resell old DVDs, games, records, porn, comics and what-not, no longer buy books as there's no profit in second hand books. The dumpster is always overflowing with books, books that you're not allowed to take. Germany is a lot more conservative than Denmark, so I wouldn't be surprised if they where more reluctant to throw out books. On the other hand, other than myself, how many people really want to read random novels from the 1970s or a 140 year old book on economics, telling you that Trump is wrong about tariffs? Maybe with the advent of LLMs, old books will get a resurgence. If a book is printed in the 20th century, at least I know it's written by humans.
bananzamba 7mo ago
I found some nice books in German paper recycling containers. Including a nice old etymology dictionary that I treasured

I'm not sure about other countries. There is a culture refuse to throw away books in Germany. People would put on the streets for free (I found two interesting books with this method).

gom_jabbar 7mo ago

German book culture is great! When he was in Karlsruhe to profile Peter Sloterdijk, The New Yorker reporter Thomas Meaney seemed surprised by it: "Over the summer, ordinary Germans who spotted his [Peter Sloterdijk] books in my hands engaged me in conversation on trains, in coffee shops, at universities, and in bookshops." [0] [0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/a-celebrity-philosopher-explains-the-populist-insurgency https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/a-celebrity-ph...

msskskkd 7mo ago
wild, when I went to germany I only saw kebabs and barber shops and a rave
- HackerNewt-doms 7mo ago
  > kebabs and barber shops Living in Germany, I can confirm that it’s part of the everyday scenery here (Stadtbild). > and a rave I can confirm that techno culture is a deeply rooted part of the urban landscape. However, the era of massive, free street parades effectively ended with the 2010 Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg, where a crowd crush claimed many lives. For years, such large-scale public raves vanished due to strict safety regulations. It’s only recently that we’ve seen a revival with 'Rave The Planet' in Berlin—an event led by the original Love Parade founders that attempts to bring techno back to the streets, though under much tighter organizational control.
  - tsoukase 7mo ago
    At that time I used to visit Germany and take part to many Carneval open parties. I intended to even participate in a Love Parade. How did the accident affected other gatherings since then? Open street concerts, Saturday night club districts, Carneval?
HackerNewt-doms 7mo ago
Sloterdijk is a rare celebrity philosopher, popularized by his many TV spots. However, whether people actually know his philosophy as well as they know his face is a different story altogether.
- gom_jabbar 7mo ago
  Agreed. Even assuming that most people aren't deeply familiar with his philosophy, it's still nice for a culture to have something like a celebrity philosopher.

welcome_dragon 7mo ago

I mean what are they going to do? Burn them? Oh wait...

WalterBright 7mo ago

> People would put on the streets for free In the US people put "Little Free Libraries" in their yards. They're all over the place in the Seattle area.

sitkack 7mo ago
Some dude was giving away books after his talk at the CPP Users Group in Redmond, got some good sci-fi.
- WalterBright 7mo ago
  That was me!
pseudohadamard 7mo ago
I've seen them in Scandinavian countries as well, glass-fronted cases in front of houses or on trees. There's a few here (not Scandinavia) too, sometimes old refridgerators because they're pretty well sealed against the elements.

mrweasel 7mo ago

Every now and then I need to go to the recycling station here in Denmark. They have a special container/dumpster just for books. The second hand shops will take a small quantum of books, stores the buy and resell old DVDs, games, records, porn, comics and what-not, no longer buy books as there's no profit in second hand books. The dumpster is always overflowing with books, books that you're not allowed to take. Germany is a lot more conservative than Denmark, so I wouldn't be surprised if they where more reluctant to throw out books. On the other hand, other than myself, how many people really want to read random novels from the 1970s or a 140 year old book on economics, telling you that Trump is wrong about tariffs? Maybe with the advent of LLMs, old books will get a resurgence. If a book is printed in the 20th century, at least I know it's written by humans.

bananzamba 7mo ago

I found some nice books in German paper recycling containers. Including a nice old etymology dictionary that I treasured