Phone books sure, but I could never see myself throwing a book into the compost. I have shelves for those.

I've never composted books. I've put them in the mixed paper recycling when they're completely unwanted. If you're going to compost them, sounds like you're doing it right. Spreading them out will help them decompose because otherwise they'd just form a tight anaerobic clump.

@Allen456 - Oh, I have many, many shelves of books, too! I probably have nearly 6,000 books. I have over 25 book cases filled with books, and more in boxes.

These ones I'm talking about are books that have been donated, then picked over and over and over by numerous people, and what the library couldn't sell I can help myself to before they toss them in the dumpster.

Soak them in water for a few days, maybe with a bit of ammonia in the bucket. They may take a few cycles to completely decompose.

Same with phone books.

I nominate 50 Shades of Grey for the burning/compost. Some books should never be printed.

David 52:
Will they decompose to mush?
Or what state?

In my case, they generally stay looking like a soggy book when they're in the pile, but when one gets exposed to air and dries out, it turns into very crumbly flakes.

"He heaved mightily, the long, throbbing prybar loosened the damp, sensuous pages from the hidden center of the pile, towards the light. She felt free, free for the first time".....

I haven't tried to compost a book so I really have no useful advice here. I'd prefer to recycle the paper first, rather than composting. Kinda curious why the library doesn't find a recycler who would take them, rather than paying to landfill them.

OT: Amazing what comes up when you mention the simple word "books". Some people think they can decide for everyone what is worthy to be read vs. destroyed, or even what books should not be printed. Curious.

My understanding is that they'd have to remove all the covers/binding on the hardcovers to recycle them... so they just toss them. It's not just one library, either. I've talked to people at 3 different library systems in my area and they all do the same.

And yes, it is amazing some people's responses :-)

I suppose paper shredders at the recycling operations aren't set up to handle hardcovers and the chunk of glue along the spine of a paperback.

Well I left a few out in a bucket that got filled with rain water, then froze and thawed. Most of them were pretty well soaked and could be easily torn by hand. The more "edges" they have the faster they will break down.

Can you compost ebooks?

As long as you have the proper, wide food web. If fact, a world wide web.

tj