Books On Journey: Berlin’s Top 6 Free Bookshelves

It has been a year I have settled in Berlin. A city of opportunities, diversity and most importantly for those who want to work, It’s the right place. I think Germany’s providing thousands of different job opportunities, is incredible. I am sorry the beginning of this article unexpectedly started this way, but I will share my life experiences as an Ausländer (foreigner) in the future which I already have wrote them in my mother language, Persian.

I always lived with books but not by the books and I could not get rid of this strong disease. I came from such a society where reading book is considered as infidelity! The Mullahs believe, any of the young generation who reads novels or philosophy, becomes infidel because it exposes religious superstations! This is the main reason, why reading book is banned in Islamic countries because they believe just one book dropped from the sky is enough to enlighten humankind! That’s why the society only read one book becomes a religious Zombieland!

Living in Berlin and seeing people a book in the hand, gives me the feeling like, reading is just a daily routine here! Even a beggar or a homeless person sleeping in a metro station or in corner of street, has few books next to himself.

Books are expensive in Berlin and not all bookstores has English books. I just saw Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus (Berlin’s cultural department store) located in the center of the city and Hugendubel, the bookstore with many branches and it has few limited shelves for English books. But you can probably find any book online especially from eBay.

But I found a free source of books in Berlin. I almost visited all the free bookshelves in Berlin but only few are my favourite and I will list them in this article. It’s such a great culture using old Telephone Booths as free bookshelves making it available publicly.

These are my favourite sources that I get books free for reading. Before listing them I will share some points you should consider while picking up books if you live in Berlin.

IMPORTANT:

• These Bookshelves are publicly open for free.

• The Books in the shelves are always on-journey.

• You can find books in many possible languages.

• You can only pick up few books but not all of them.

• You can always return the books whenever you want.

• You don’t need any library card or asking permission.

• You can also put your own books for someone else to read.

• You may not find what you need, but you’ll definitely get something worth reading!

Bellow are in Berlin and are my favourites but before that, I have also prepared a simple video on Top 6 Free Bookshelves in Berlin where you can get books free for reading.


1. S Grunewald, Am Gleis 17, 14193 Berlin

If you are coming from Central Railway Station, you can easily find suburban train called S-Bahn in Berlin. If you see a green circle with a capital S, then you are about to travel only inside the city. The S-Bahn, suburban trains are designed very well and it can take you almost at any part of Berlin. Berlin has the most very well organized transportation system. From Central Railway Station you can take S7 Potsdam Hbf and just drop in to S Grunewald station. You can easily find the direction to Gelis 17 towards this bookshelf.

If you are learning German, these bookshelves are the best source for you. There is also books in English and a few more languages. You can freely grab few books and bring them back once you read.

2. U Rüdesheimer Platz, Berlin

This one is my favorite! It always has English books in it. If you are in Berlin and using Google Map to find this place, probably you’ll find another transportation medium to get to here, but the easy way is the U-Bahn line U3. U-Bahn is the subway, mostly underground metro in Berlin. This is a very beautiful place, there is also a peaceful green park in front of the bookshelf to enjoy the fresh air and take some rest.

3. S+U Heidelberger Platz, Berlin

This is one is just one station of above/below to the previous one. But you can also take S-Bahn, S41-S42 to get to here. It’s located right in front of House of Youth Anne Frank in Berlin. I got even a book in Persian language from here. :)

4. U Fehrbelliner Platz, Berlin

This is also one of my favourite bookshelves. You can always find great novels, dictionaries and coursebooks in learning German. You can get here by two different lines of U-Bahn, U3/U7. Once you arrived to this station, just come outside and it will be visible for you. This one is also in the same direction, if you are coming by line U-Bahn U3.

5. Leon-Jessel-Platz in Wilmersdorf

Once you checked the bookshelf in U Fehrbelliner Platz, don’t miss to check this amazing place too. It takes only a 7 minutes walk to get to here. The best way to get to here is, using U3/U7 lines of U-Bahn. It’s a beautiful place with a little crowd of people having coffee or food. The Bookshelf is right in the middle and there are also few resting benches in the corner to take rest with a cup of coffee and enjoy the peaceful environment.

6. Bücherwald - Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

If you wish to visit the Wall of Berlin and the Mauerpark, don’t miss to see this amazing beauty. This is in another part of the city. The Mauerpark, is the best place to spend Sundays with. There will be live music, many performances, vintage shopping and you can find many interesting stuff to see or to buy.

The best transportation medium to get to here is S-Bahn line S1 and the Tram (Street Train) line M10. To visit the Bücherwald, if you are coming from A Zone of Berlin, take S-Bahn line S1 until S Nordbahnhof station, and continue by Tram line M10 S+U Warschauer Str and get off the train when you arrived Husemannstr station. Once you get off, it takes only a 4 minutes walk to get to here. Make you sure you have internet to use Google Map! If you have internet and the map, you never get lost in this city.

Conclusion

Books On-Journey and Book-Crossing is a worldwide movement and is such a great culture. The books you get from these bookshelves for reading will be always on journey. Once you read the book, you’ll put it back in one of these bookshelves and probably that book will get in someone else’s hand.

If you are a bookish person and addicted to reading, then you don’t mind if the book is even too old to read. I don’t believe in second hand books, books will be never like clothes, they don’t age! New or old, book is still the book for the book lovers.

Most of these books are obviously in German, but you can always find English, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages. If you are learning German like me, this is the best source to improve the learning process. In language courses, you’ll learn mostly grammar and structures, but people like me who wants to learn quickly and academically not relying only in the language class and the structures, I always find more helpful ways to learn the language like reading novels. If you are a linguist, then you can understand me very well. I am reading novels in German that I already have read them in English and it helps me more to understand the language academically in a higher level. Learning language only limited to daily conversation won’t help you to understand the beauty of a language.