'The ultimate answer for anyone who has ever asked "how can I make a difference?", this ingenious handbook shows how the smallest actions can impact on your local community and the wider world.'

This book suggests an action for each day of the year. I'm sure this will do more good out on a bookray than gathering dust on my shelf...

Perhaps when you comment on the book you could include either the action for that date or one you like and are going to do. If you are at the end of the bookray it would be great if you could continue the ray or if not to keep the book moving in some other way.

Order so far:

Kernow8 Southampton, UK
Tregossip Cornwall, UK
mazzlestarLeeds, UK
madmadge Dorset, UK
Sunshine-irl Dublin, Ireland
bookguide Gelderland, Netherlands
Dukesa Lisbon, Portugal -BOOK IS HERE-
NMReader New Mexico, US
Shroffland Georgia, US
Bluemchenblatt Paris, France
AliceF Coventry, UK

Book is ready to start its travels this week, so here's an action from it that I am going to do:

26 January 'Old Specs New Owners'

Millions of pairs of perfectly usable glasses are discarded each year, when there is a great need for them in the developing world where an inability to afford an eye test or glasses, or unavailability of eye care, leaves millions of people living in a haze of half sight. I am going to give my old glasses to my local opticians to pass on to Vision Aid Overseas.

Arrived! I am very excited....

I jumped straight in at today's date - "declare independence"! It's not something I'm drawn towards so I'll wait until I have a more inspiring action to do!

Actually I've started reading from the start now - there is loads of good stuff in it and I've already signed up to the 365 website and to www.thehungersite.com which was one of the early actions (January 7th: each time you click on the webpage they give a cup of food to someone living in poverty - you can sign up for a daily reminder email too). Cool book. It's much more in-depth than I thought it would be, and has more varied activism ideas - definitely not a single issue book.

Finished at last (sorry it took me so long!). Great book with loads of food for thought. I've jotted down a number of websites to have a look at at some time. What have I actually done while reading the book?

* Following on from my last journal entry I've signed up to the hunger site's daily email reminder service and am now clicking my way through all the linked sites (Rainforest, Literacy, etc) as well as Hunger on most days.

* From 26th January page - I emailed Vision Aid to find out if they take prescription sunglasses (they do) then dropped my old pair into the Vision Aid collection box at my church.

* From 15th January page - I took the tolerance test on the Project Implicit website (that was very interesting)

* From 27th January page - I gave blood. Not for the first time, but I have been a bit put off recently due to a couple of low iron results which meant that I couldn't give blood. It was difficult to get enthusiastic when I knew there was a good chance I'd get sent home straight away without giving any blood. But this book stirred my conscience and I went along anyway - and everything was OK - they got my pint!

* From 31st Oct page - I tried to get onto the leaderofthefreeworld website but it doesn't seem to exist any more. Which was a shame, because I read that page just before the US elections. Which were truly world-changing.

Thanks MrsJennings! On its way to Tregossip when it stops raining for long enough for me to walk down to the post office...

Arrived at lunch time (is it me or are postal deliveries getting later and later?)

I already re-cycle everthing possible, sponsor 2 children in Ethiopia, support Shelterbox and Surfers Against Sewerage (both brilliant charities based here in Cornwall) have a water meter, leave nothing electric on standby etc etc but looking forward to this book and learning more.

Thank you for this

Now where do I buy ShitBeGone toilet paper? will keep buying the Nouvelle until I can track it down

Have PM'd the next person

Got it :D got another ray to finish ahead of this one but will be flicking through this alongside it as I go, since it seems that sort of book :)

I never got all the way through this one as it all started hurting my brain, I've not been very well so it was a bit heavy going! I did like a lot of the ideas, though, but I didn't manage to pick one out - except of course I was very impressed that Bookcrossing was in there!

Sent this on to madmadge today :)

This made me jump when it crashed through my letterbox today! It gave Ruby Tuesday a bit of a fright too - she thought it was another cat coming through her catflap!

Thank yu mazzlestar for passing it on and MrsJennings for including me in the Ray. Happy New Year!

This book is mind-blowing. I already do some of the things like recycling, using public transport instead of the car, BOOKCROSSING! :0), saving energy, i.e we have a new condensing boiler and turn down the thermostat, I have a 'power-down' connected to my computer set up so everything is turned off at the wall, I turn off the TV and video at the wall so it's not on stand-by, I took all my old Christmas cards to Sainsbury's for recycling, I use my own bags instead of plastic bags, I shop at charity stores OFTEN and buy clothes and books.

It was an interesting read and I've jotted down some of the websites for future reference.

Now PMing the next in line

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Going off to Sunshine-irl tomorrow in a recycled envelope. :0)

Safe journey little book.

Received in the post last week (Sorry only on now)
Will read and pick my change and then send it on.

Doing April 19
Going to PM next crosser now for addle

Arrived safely in my postbox this afternoon. It will go with all the others on the ringbook shelf for now. A whole herd arrived in February!

I have now finished this and will fill in this JE properly when I have a little more time. I will post it to Duchesa tomorrow or in the next couple of days.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book was so wonderful, with so many fantastic ideas and interesting websites to follow up that I would buy it myself if I came across it and add it to the book boxes that belong to our English expat club, hoping to inspire more people. It's great value, too, at only 7.99 sterling (can't find the pound sign on this keyboard) ;-/ I ended up taking it on holiday with me and writing copious notes, hoping to put some of the ideas into practice. The author really made an effort to find inspiring projects in all sorts of areas, and some of them were real eye-openers. For example, it had never really occurred to me to ask why solar power couldn't be used in the developing world for cooking, sterilising water, etc., and I loved the idea of the hipporoller for fetching water more easily and the locally-built sand dams. Micro-loans (sendacow.org.uk and goodgifts.org) and intermediate technology seem the way to go. Personally I shall be looking into the ideas for slowing down (National Downshifting Week at the end of April), although anybody who knows me will probably tell me that I've got the patent on that one! Then, of course, I intend to carry on Bookcrossing, and I'm interested in being a distributed proofreader on Project Gutenberg.

The thing which is different about this book is that it's not a *self*-help book, it's about changing the world, one small action at a time, and that's why it's so appealing. I've written down some of the special days too, and hope to be able to incorporate some of them into the programme of the expat club, or to write about them in the newsletter. We've been having difficulty getting long-term members to events recently, so I shall probably be trying an event based around International Day for Tolerance (Nov. 16th):
"People mixing - meet someone new. You are probably missing out. There are interesting people everywhere, but most of us tend to stick with the groups of people we're used to. Most of us remember the way 'cliques' or 'gangs' formed at school, and most adults still experience them to a degree. Every group has its own territory and its own rules. Almost everyone remains locked into their small group. The reality is that people can't really be slotted into 'types'. One of the human race's most spectacular attributes is its phenomenal diversity. You might share the political opinions of your bank manager, or a favourite food with your boss at work. You really don't know until you ask. There may be lots of really interesting people out there whom you never get to talk to... So try mixing it up. Organise a day where everyone gets to meet new people. It's a great way to break down social, economic, racial, gender, ability, disability and even age barriers. You could allocate tables according to birth month, or the first letter of last names. Break down the barriers, and you might find people have more to talk about than they realise."

This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before Jan. 2009. My reading goal is 46 books.
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme- Pages Read Challenge - read a self-set target number of pages in 2009. My goal is 25000.

It's here :D
Thank you for sharing, I hope I don't take too long with it ;)

I'm sorry for keeping the book for so long... I haven't had time to read it, I just read a few entries... I'm going to PM NMReader to ask for the address to move the book along. Sorry...