Do you let friends borrow books? Why or why not?
I let friends (family, neighbors, acquaintances) borrow books all the time. It's one of the main reasons I haven't made the switch to e-books yet. I love nothing more than telling someone about a great book and then being able to shove it right into their hands so that they have a chance to read it.
The key to this strategy is to always be pleasantly surprised when you get a book back. More often than not I do, but a handful have vanished into the ether. The good news is that these tend to be my favorite books by authors I love, so I'm happy to buy another copy and send them a little more money and incentivize their publishers to print more of their books.
But really I just want people to read more so that I can talk to them about books. And the best way to get someone to read a book you love is to remove all barriers to acquiring that book.
All that said, there are a handful of books I don't lend. These tend to be special or irreplaceable books. Books that I don't even take out of my own house, and I do almost all of my reading outside my house. Some books are special. But most are easily replaced.
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