Take a book
Choose something you want to read. Take it for your walk or bring it home.
An Unautomated Life Project —
Hercules Bay Trail Library
A book-sharing and listening library planned for the Hercules Bay Trail in Hercules, California.
Read. Walk. Listen. Connect.
First location in planningFollow the project
The idea
The Hercules Bay Trail is used every day by walkers, runners, families, cyclists, birdwatchers, and people listening through their headphones.
The library will give them two ways to take a story along.
Walkers can choose a printed book from a small weatherproof box. They can return it later, keep it, or bring another book for the next person.
A QR code on the library will open A Story for the Walk, a page featuring an audiobook, short recording, or book excerpt. People can begin listening on the trail and save the selection for later.
How the idea started
One morning on Promenade Street, someone left a brown cloth box beside the walkway. A handwritten sign clipped to the front said Free Books. Josephine stopped, looked through the books, and took two home.
That same morning, she waved at the passengers on a passing train. They waved back.
Both exchanges lasted only a moment. A stranger had left stories for people they might never meet. People moving past one another at train speed still found time to say hello.
The Hercules Bay Trail Library grew from those two moments.
How the book exchange will work
Return or share
Return the book when you finish, or leave another clean, readable book for someone else.
Help care for the library
Close the door, keep food and trash out, and let us know if the box needs attention.
A Story for the Walk
The listening library will feature:
- Free public-domain audiobooks
- Legal links to audiobooks available through public libraries
- Short stories, essays, and poems with permission from their creators
- Original recordings from The Unautomated Life
- Selected readings from Powder Ground
Each selection will include its title, author, narrator, running time, a short description, and a link that walkers can save.
What will be in the box
We plan to include:
- Popular fiction and mysteries
- Literary and historical novels
- Memoirs and biographies
- Children's books
- Nature and local-history books
- Large-print books
- Books in languages spoken in Hercules
- Copies of Powder Ground after publication
Books must be clean, dry, and in good condition.
Project status
We are currently:
- Identifying the right location
- Seeking permission to place the library beside the trail
- Talking with possible community and library partners
- Developing the weatherproof box and signs
- Building the listening page
- Collecting a strong first group of books
No library will be installed until the location and design are approved.
Help start the library
You may be able to help by donating good books, suggesting an audiobook, helping with the box, or connecting us with a local partner.
Trail safety
Keep the trail audible around you. Use a volume that allows you to hear bicycles, traffic, wildlife, other walkers, and trains.