Does anyone have any ideas on the most useful way to get rid of mechanical engineering and materials science textbooks? They’re 13 years old, so I doubt these particular editions are being used in many classes, but it seems like someone could get some use out of them, and there has to be a better way to match them up with said someone than by just giving them to goodwill or the library booksale.
It actually pains me to get rid of them, but I have to admit that the likelihood of me ever reading them again is slim, and the shelf space could be put to better use.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Whoa. Bob, she really loves you.
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
I know what you mean, I still love my dad's 70's version of Encyclopedia Britannica and all my old physics and chemistry texts, even my Pascal and Basic manuals. It seems almost criminal to destroy them, so every time I have to move or go overseas I have to box them and put them in storage.
I guess I must imagine them being found by some post apocalyptic civilization that is clawing its way back to our level of technology.
I know I can use a set of diskettes that hold more current info and move them in a shoe box, but I learned to read on those books and they represent so much loving work. I am keeping my place while I deploy for 18 months at least in part to give my books a home.
On the plus side while I was in Germany my storage shed was robbed and not a single book was stolen! Guess it shows the class of people who rob storage sheds, maybe I should have topped off all the boxes with books!
BC
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Well, the third edition of one of the books I have is selling for $90 used on amazon.
Unfortunately, I have the first edition.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
So, it's worth 1/3 as much, right?
Dana, my love, don't ditch the text books. We'll box up what we can't leave out for easy reach. I have LOADS of bookcases I'm bringing with. We'll find a way.
I can't bear the idea of you parting with old friends for my sake.
Besides, I'm bringing some texts from when I was an undergraduate. Those stone tablets weigh a ton and take up way more room than books do.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Bob, I'm keeping calculus,physics, and the basic engineering stuff. But I really, really don't need Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery. Really. If you don't want the shelf space, I can find a way to fill it. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Um...I just packed a book from the 1920's called "The Theory of Machines" or something like that.
Also, kinematics is kind of fun.
But, whatever you wish to do. They're your books. I'm just saying you don't have to get rid of them on my account.
(PS: I'm worried that this "geting rid of old things" might become a trend...)
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Okay. But I’m sending the Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges Adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials, 1973 edition to zgator for Christmas.
I don’t know why I have that book. I think it was someone’s idea of a joke gift at some point, but I’ve forgotten who or why.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Geez, you guys are a bunch of geeks. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Gawd, that one is old. The organization is now AASHTO, not AASHO!!!
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
What about fifty years of National Georgaphic? Am I wrong to love them so?
And do not even look at my Asimov's and Astounding Mags! These take up more room then the undergraduate texts, so if I cannot part with one then I should hang on to the other.
I bet your fiction section is as vast as mine, so you can think of the other as a balance!
BC
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Before I left Canada to join dear hubby, I sold/gave away/otherwise got rid of about 15 or 20 boxes of books. Some paperback, some hardcover. Scary thing is . . . I kept way more than I got rid of. Other scary thing is . . . dear hubby's book collection rivals mine. Mine was, at last count, something like 90 feet of paperbacks. Just the paperbacks. Can't do without my books. . . I'm so glad I married someone who understood my obsessiveness with books.
Yep, I'm a geek.
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
I have met people, many, including whole families for whom reading is a chore. Shudder...
Talking to them about the worlds of fiction is like trying to explain color to the blind, and yet many are quite bright and productive.
The reading club truly is a membership that ignores race color and creed, and most bigotry does tend to soften in the face of that torrent of the written word. Yet we do tend to be able to sit still and do 'nothing' for hours at a time, but as a soldier that abilty can be a life saver.
Of course I am preaching to the choir here so why bother, but sometimes it makes me feel sad, I am always happy when good books are made into good movies. It is great to see our worlds shared for the people who do not enjoy reading.
"The Lord of the Rings" Extended Version DVD set (once it comes out) may represent the highest achievement of our current civilization.
BC
Posted by Jacob Porter (Member # 31) on :
You could ask a local community college or college if they are selling any of their textbooks soon and give the books to the library. They may be for upper division courses, but some ambitious student might want to peruse them.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:Mine was, at last count, something like 90 feet of paperbacks. Just the paperbacks.
Man, and I thought I was book-clingy with 36 feet of paperbacks and a full Stephen King collection in hardbound (minus a couple limited-edition only releases) I've got a whopping two feet left before I need to either purge or find a way to squeeze another cabinet into my apartment.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Soooo.... D&B.... what will you be doing with the duplicates?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
That was something dear hubby and I had to deal with. He sent me a list of his books, and I culled my duplicates out. Surprisingly, we only had 50 dupes. Really surprising since we're both sci-fi people. But he had entire collections of this author I wanted to read but hadn't gotten around to, and I had entire collections of that author that . . . Anyway, it all worked out really well for us.
But we weren't discussing us. So I think I'll go away now. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I'd keep them around. You might have a science geek kid someday who wants to read them. Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
My boyfriend might be interested in them if you don't have anything better to do with them. He reads that type of thing for fun. If you're interested I can give him your email or you his, whichever is easier.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
ElJay...duplicates? What're those? I mean surely you buy one copy to read and one to keep in pristine condition so you can just "know it's there."
Actually, we have very few books in common. I suspect the most overlap would be in our OSC collections, otherwise we've pursued different authors.
(and I mean "pursued" in the kindest most non-stalkerlike way possible)
[ November 14, 2004, 06:11 AM: Message edited by: Bob_Scopatz ]
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
My parents have some old engineering textbooks too (most likely a wee bit older than yours, dkw.) I found a punch card in one once! Now that was cool. So I say you should keep some around for posterity, especially if you think your kids will be geeky.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Punch cards! Ah, now that takes me back . . . to the days when my older brother took a computer course at the local college and he brought stacks and stacks of the punch cards home to use as . . . grocery lists, to-do lists, note paper, and that sorta thing. If I recall correctly, it took us more than a decade to go through all he brought us. Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
And I probably already have all the OSC books, too. Hmpf. Oh well... at least you're bringing in a whole new dimension of books to peruse while visiting, then.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I just remembered we have duplicates of the entire Douglas Adams Hitchiker's Guide trilogy (plus one).
There's probably some Asimov doubles too.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
My dad will not be happy when I finally move out and take all his books with me.
Posted by ssywak (Member # 807) on :
Only 13 years old? They're newer than most of mine!
Anything good on materials science? Or any new editions of Roark & Young? Or Beer & Johnston?
-Steve
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I've got two copies of the "Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" 33rd edition (1951-52) and three copies of "Algebra Two and Trigonometry" (Dressler/Rich 1972)
Does this suggest something sinister about me?
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Steve, I have the second edition (1991) of Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction by William D. Callister, Jr. in the bye-bye pile.
[ November 14, 2004, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: dkw ]
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
I can just imagine the pile I'm going to have when I'm through. Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I still use my engineering textbooks from college many years ago. Luckily, dirt doesn't really change all that much.
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