The Book Thing is a 501(c) non-profit charity, located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, created in September 1999 for the purpose of giving away books. It was created and is operated by Russel Wattenberg, a former bartender who was inspired to create a system for distributing books to impoverished students. The estimated amount of books at The Book Thing is 200,000, and they come from a variety of sources including people, businesses, and organizations. The Book Thing was incorporated by a board of neighborhood volunteers. The Book Thing is open on weekends and is run by around 30 volunteers.
On March 2, 2016, a fire broke out in the early morning, which was extinguished by the Baltimore Fire Department. The fire which was confined to one room of the warehouse did not destroy all the contents, but ruined approximately one-third of the books stored there; other rooms suffered smoke and soot deposition only. The Book Thing ceased accepting new book donations, but continues to accept monetary donations via their website. Volunteers assisted with cleanup of books both for disposal and for distribution the following Saturday. Currently closed to visitors for unknown duration, updates about hours and special opening times will continue to be posted to the blog portion of their website (see refs).