Considering how much I enjoy telling other people what to do, read, and watch, I can’t believe I never thought of this before: You can donate copies of your favorite books and DVDs to the library, thereby sneakily infecting other patrons with your preferences.

I thought of it when I was trying to make you buy Firefly. I was looking at the good price and wishing I had someone to buy a copy for so I could look much more generous than I actually was. Then I remembered that before I’d watched Firefly myself, I’d checked the library to see if they had a copy, and they did not. FUSION OF IDEAS.

You’ll want to contact your local library first to make sure they WANT what you want to give them: if they don’t, they may chuck it in the 25-cent book sale. Most libraries have websites with contact information, so you can drop them an email and the person in charge of acquisitions will get back to you. If they say hell-yeah, then you buy it, give it, save your receipt, and deduct the purchase price when you’re doing your taxes. Meanwhile you can sit back and imagine that copy of Firefly spreading itself over the town, winning converts wherever it goes. —Swistle