The excess in my life tends to be books, because people are always giving them to me. So, when I turn the last page—or sometimes well before—I might give a book to a friend. You do it, too. That simple act is the atom of a gift economy. No money was exchanged, I have no expectation of compensation in any form. That book was kept from the landfill, and my friend and I have a bond and something to talk about; the act of giving opened a channel of reciprocity. It’s not so different from what the Serviceberries are doing.
