One man's trashy book is another man's treasure

It sounds like something from a cyberpunk novel - a subculture of people living off the castoff riches of the city except instead of scavenging high-tech, they're scavenging something as low-tech as it gets - books. The New York Times looks at the people who scrounge unwanted books from the trash then sell them to used book dealers who sell them to you and me.

I've never made a living at scavenging tossed books, but I must confess that if I see books in the garbage, I'm not ashamed to pick over them. Who here hasn't?

The big question is how long will the used book industry thrive once we make the inevitable jump to reading our books digitally? Before you ponder that question, you may want to read The Times' look at where the printed page is heading.

And on the subject of books, the Telegraph opines on the subject of book awards and asks the question - do we really need them?