Relay Books on Trip

A social experiment to see how far a stranger's trust can carry a book

Books here go on trips of their own.Track how they travel.

Every book that joins does so without a plan. Once it leaves your hands, strangers decide where it goes next, what they write about it, and whether it ever comes home. Nobody, including us, knows how far any one copy will get.

Join the relay See the books
Books in relay
0
Pairs of hands
0
Localities
0
Cities
0
Countries
0
Distance
40,360 km

The last twelve hands

Every mark is somebody who picked up a book they did not own and passed it on.

ReleasedRAFIGANJ9 Aug 2026IndiaReleasedDELHI9 Aug 2026IndiaReleasedकाठमाडौँ महानगरपालिका9 Aug 2026नेपालIn handDELHI27 Jul 2026IndiaSightedDELHI26 May 2026IndiaIn handDELHI9 Apr 2026IndiaIn handDELHI21 Feb 2026IndiaReleasedDELHI3 Feb 2026IndiaHomeDELHI4 May 2026IndiaIn handMUNICH8 Apr 2026GermanyIn handKRAKÓW12 Oct 2025PolandIn handISTANBUL16 Jul 2025Turkey

Where they've been photographed

Readers are asked for a picture of the book wherever they found it. These are theirs.

A Fine Balance photographed in Saket, Delhi, India Saket, Delhi, India A Fine Balance A Fine Balance photographed in Civil Lines, Delhi, India Civil Lines, Delhi, India A Fine Balance A Fine Balance photographed in Nizamuddin, Delhi, India Nizamuddin, Delhi, India A Fine Balance Letters to a Young Poet photographed in Kraków, Poland Kraków, Poland Letters to a Young Poet Letters to a Young Poet photographed in Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul, Turkey Letters to a Young Poet The Passenger photographed in Dublin, Ireland Dublin, Ireland The Passenger The Passenger photographed in Trieste, Italy Trieste, Italy The Passenger The Passenger photographed in Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade, Serbia The Passenger The Passenger photographed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai, United Arab Emirates The Passenger

Openly, an experiment

Relay is a social experiment, not a delivery service

Every number on this page, the books, the hands, the distance, is data from a running test: will a stranger, with nothing to gain, actually keep a small promise to a book that was never theirs?

There's no reward for checking in. No leaderboard, no account, no reputation to build. Just a code inside a cover and a choice, twenty seconds long, to pass a story on or let it stop with you.

So far, most books go quiet after a hop or two. A few don't. Nobody, including us, knows in advance which kind any single book will be, that's what makes it worth running.

How the relay works

Five things happen, and only two of them are yours

  1. 01 Register the book Say why you're letting it go. That note travels with it forever and is the first thing a stranger reads.
  2. 02 Print the plate A code, and a line in six languages explaining that the book isn't lost. Glue it inside the front cover.
  3. 03 Let go A hostel shelf, a seat pocket, a friend flying out. Assume you'll never hold it again, that's the deal.
  4. 04 Strangers scan it Twenty seconds, no account. A pin on the map, a photograph, a line about what they felt reading it.
  5. 05 You get an email, sometimes years later Most books go quiet after a hop or two. Release a few. One of them will surprise you.
Join the relay Read the guide first
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