O1 - Books; Keeping Track

A few months ago I was at Bookmans looking at the Kerouac books and I couldn't remember if I already had a title or not.  I wanted to pick it up anyway but as many of you know returning a used book to a used bookstore doesn't usually work out so well.  At that moment I realized I had a true problem on my hands and while I may have left the bookstore with out any books I didn't leave empty handed, I had a mission.  A mission to find a way to track what I had and what I wanted.

My first attempt to solve this dilemma failed miserably.  I tried pen and paper. I tried an Excel type spread sheet. Realistically trying to log hundreds of books this way became ridiculous real quick.  So I turned to my trusty friend Google and googled (I love saying googled instead of searched, search is so Yahoo) for a way to track my books and I found the following on MakeUseOf.com.


I tried the sites mentioned in their post and decided that Goodreads served my purpose the best.  Personally I think the site is very easy to navigate and the social aspect of the site is a lot of fun. You can share your reviews with others, get updates from friends, even send updates through Facebook.  If you decide to register and you enjoy this blog please feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads (or Facebook for that matter).

But back to my initial reason for searching out and finding Goodreads.  I now track what I own, what I haven't read and what I still want to get.  From a mobile device I am able to login to my account while I'm at the store and update any of my "shelves" with future purchases or items in my bag.  While I still wander the store for hours it's not because I can't remember that book by that guy that I read an article about in some magazine, it's because I want to.

If you're not interested in joining another site there are two other apps that I use from time to time in a pinch. Evernote is a great way to, as their site says, "Remember Everything".  I use Evernote when I hear about some random author or subject and want to research more before I commit myself to purchasing anything.  My other little helper is Dropbox, perfect for saving, editing , and syncing lists in various places as well.  Both have free and pay options and soon enough you will all see that I am a cheap.

Tomorrow I'll write about some interesting social "things" I've found concerning books.