OT, What to do with textbooks? Help

I have 6 feet by 20 feet of text books (probably about 2-300), double stacked. 50+ years in the engineering profession. Primary subjects are: Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Hydraulics, Electronics, and heavy on Mathematics. My heart will not let me throw them away. Gladly give them for free to anybody that could use them.

What have you all done with your library after your career winds down? Admittedly, the books are old, and all the information therein could be found on the internet today.

Few years ago I took 7 boxes of computer books and gave them to my local used book store. Found out a few weeks later that all were thrown out (many were only 2-3 years old) because people buy novels only. Won't do that again!

There was an age when all these books were necessary. How could you get by without "King's Hydraulic Tables"? GE's electronic tube characteristics, transistor data books etc. Math books on Boolean Algebra, Mechanical Vibrations and so forth.

Yes, I have not looked at these books for five years except the math books. Don't really NEED any of them, but they were my life. When I pass they will simply be thrown away. Maybe I should do it now.

Any experience with this down-sizing would be appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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I'd probably give them to Goodwill.

Modern textbooks are not written as a labor of love (authors seldom made much money) but now for making money. They make sure of this by charging exorbitant prices and putting out new editions every year.

I look at my old textbooks as souvenirs but otherwise would toss them if they took up too much space.

Reply to
Frank

If you keep any, only keep the ones devoted to basics and theory. Any that are practical applications are probably out dated by new codes and so are useless except for those dealing with applied physics. If you haven't been practicing in the field they do you no good anyway since you've forgotten most of what you learned. I used to know structural design but the methods (working strength, Ultimate strength, etc) have changed a couple times since I learned it and I didn't go into the field so what good are old textbooks teaching me how to do it "wrong" by today's standards? All I kept was Static's and Dynamics Text, Hydraulics, and one or two others on the basics.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Yep, I just gave some of my old textbooks to Goodwill

Reply to
philo

I did some volunteer work at a group that recycled books, etc. Complete *sets* (i.e., enough copies for an entire classroom)

*sometimes* were preserved -- if they were reasonably current (they would be distributed to low income school districts, etc.).

Individual titles that made their way into our "book store" almost universally languished -- until they were recycled for their paper content.

In my field (EE/CS), it is not uncommon to accumulate hundreds of pounds of "databooks". These tend to be dated -- parts go obsolete reasonably quickly and new parts come along in their place.

OTOH, I have some "classic" databooks that contain a lot more (ancillary) information than is commonly present in new offerings (which are invariably PDF's or distributed on CD-ROM).

Of my college TEXT books, I've saved some of those that were seminal texts (e.g., my copy of Winston's _Artificial Intelligence_ is a stack of photocopied pages in an informal "binding"). Plus, those that never truly were text books -- despite their size.

I keep things like CRC Handbook's, NEC codebook, etc. and the rest I preserve "on disk", if at all.

I dropped all my paperbacks (80 "ten-ream copier paper boxes") off at the local library in the hope that they can sell them for $0.25 a piece and use the money for worthwhile. At the very least, *reward* patrons who drop in by giving them a "deal" on those titles.

Reply to
Don Y

I used to know

Ashton, you make a very good point that I hadn't considered. The books are outdated as far as current practice goes. I will keep gems, like and 1860 and 1888 Calculus book (almost same as today), a few radio repair books, and CRC handbooks etc.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

PUt them on ebay and see if any takers. Price them starting at about $ 1.00 to start with and postage to be added. Then put them on Craigs list for free.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

I bought a couple books on Ebay recently. The money went to charity. I think the books were $5 postage included. Maybe mention the money is going to .................... charity.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

It wasn't the end of my career but I downsized prior to a move. I had a similar collection plus development boards, EPROM burners, and so forth. I found a high school teacher who was trying to put together an advanced computer class and he was ecstatic to get the whole mess.

I also had some Thorton Burgess books from my childhood. I knew a pre-school teacher that was thrilled to get them for the kids too.

I've donated books to libraries with mixed success. Most of the last batch went straight to the library's book sale shelf. They were not junk either. Some were philosophy books in areas where their collection is weak and so forth.

Reply to
rbowman

That's the problem I have currently. Very few computer books are timeless. We did a clean up at work and I put a lot of books on a cafeteria table. A few went away but after a week what was left went into the dumpster.

Reply to
rbowman

That's where most donated materials wind up at the local library. I volunteered at a library that was culling its book. The reality is shelf space is limited so they strive to use it most effectively. One of the criteria was it had to be in Books in Print. That seemed backwards to me but so it went. I got an entire collection of John Burroughs, a late

19th early 20th century naturalist from the project. I considered it a treasure; the library considered it two feet of shelf space for books no one would ever read.
Reply to
rbowman

Yup. Ours takes all sorts of things that will NEVER make it into the stacks (CD's, jigsaw puzzles, etc.). Plus, they routinely cull their collection and sell the "discards". It makes some sense to supplement revenues from taxes.

Here, they track how often titles are checked out. After "a while" (some vague amount of time), they get pitched. The number of volumes going out every week is *staggering*! It takes a volunteer staff of more than a dozen just to sort them to go on the "for sale" shelf (or, warehoused for the annual book sale)

Yup. SWMBO would visit the annual booksale to stock up on "art" books that had been culled or donated over the course of the previous 12 mos. She's now got a rather extensive collection! So much that she dreads encountering other titles that she might be tempted to purchase!

Reply to
Don Y

You could try half.com as well (subsite of eBay). No listing fees, but they take a 15% commission off any sale.

Reply to
MistaRyte

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