By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Used books — what a great and cheap way to cultivate green practices. My eldest son and I visited the flagship Half Price books in Dallas over the weekend, prowling for music, plays and health books. (We didn’t have time to roam for literature.) I shed about two dozen used paperbacks, garnering a $4 credit, and we found, well, a bit of this and that to take back home.

The Half Price in near North Dallas is an awesome place the size of at least two gymnasiums. On a Saturday, the parking lot is packed, the indoor coffee shop overflows, the massage chair is occupied and there’s a continual line at the intake desk where workers decide what they’ll pay for your trade-ins. There’s an abundance of good cheer and you can always strike up a chat with someone in “History” or “Drama” or especially in the children’s section, where recommendations fly. And you’ll always fit in, somewhere in there, whether you’ve got a beard, a cane, a dozen tattoos, a half dozen kids, a passion for Henry James or Lemony Snicket.

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