Book swapping or book exchange is the practice of a swap of books between one person an another. Practiced among book groups, friends and colleagues at work, it provides an inexpensive way for people to exchange books, find out about new books and obtain a new book to read without having to pay. Because swaps occur between individuals, without central distribution or warehousing, and without the copyright owner making a profit, the practice has been compared to peer to peer systems such as Bittorrent -- except that hard-copy original analog objects are exchanged.