Better World Books » San Francisco

What We’re Reading: SF Edition

Jack — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:59:49 +0000

Now that you know “We [heart] Books” I thought I’d tell you what we’re reading here at the SF Office.

Justin: Always Be Testing, Collapse (Audiobook), Watchmen
Cory: The Big House, The Glass Castle
Geoff: Obama’s Challenge
Eddie: Web Analytics an Hour a Day, Watchmen
Xavier: Let My People Go Surfing
Jack: Blink, Doctor Zhivago
Ryan: Where the Wild Things Are, Post Office
Elina: Lonely Planet Travel Guide: Barcelona (lucky!!!)

Better World Books Volunteers at 826 Valencia

Jack — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:54:40 +0000

The SF office of Better World Books is the newest collection of volunteers at Dave Eggers‘ group, 826 Valencia. Starting next month we’ll be helping at a local SF school with college essays by high school seniors. After that we’ll be spending 3 hours each week at the center, tutoring kids from 6-18 in various subjects. Besides that, some of us will be doing more work on our own time in workshops, in-school tutoring and editing of the publications of the students’ work from the center (guess who’s doing that).

From the site:

826 National is a family of seven nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing at seven locations across the country.

Our mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

Each chapter offers drop-in tutoring, field trips, workshops, and in-schools programs — all free of charge — for children, classes, and schools with particular interests or particular needs.

826 is especially committed to supporting teachers, offering services and resources for English language learners, and publishing student work. Several locations offer unique retail experiences as well.

The San Francisco Green Fest

admin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:28:48 +0000

Last weekend Better World Books attended the Green Fest in San Francisco to promote BetterWorld.com. What an incredible event! Over the course of three days, we spoke with thousands of people, ran a very successful book drive, and learned a good deal about other green initiatives happening throughout the world. All in all, the event was a great success, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

Above: Paul Drake, Geoff Schwarten, Silvia Sweidan, Brad Weirich, Natasha Harris, Justin Brandon

Above: Plastic Man

The man above was one of the flashier participants at the Fest. He single-handedly ran his own awareness campaign about plastic, and came dressed in 700 plastic grocery bags (the amount of bags the average person throws away in a year) in order to effectively demonstrate how much waste our lives contribute to the environment. Makes you want to buy reusable grocery bags, right?!