Ron Hornbaker is the founder ofÊBookCrossing, a global book club that encourages its members to free their used books and leave them in public places for strangers to find and take home.

Ron designed, programed and maintains the site that supports the exchange, BookCrossing.com. He is also President and CTO of software company, Humankind Systems

Ron credits his parents for the site. As school teachers, they taught Ron the joys of reading and learning at a very early age. BookCrossing, he says, is just an indirect culmination of their good influence over the years.

One thousand blank journals are traveling from hand to hand throughout the world. Those who find them will add stories and drawings, and then pass them along. It is a worldwide art experiment, and the man behind it is San Francisco-based designer Brian Singer.