What did you do with your old college textbooks?

[Ivan Seeking]

Many years ago, as the internet was coming of age, I burned over 500 pounds of technical manuals. I realized I can look things up on the internet faster than I can find something in a technical manual. And just about anything I might need could be found online.

But letting go of my several shelves worth of college text and other science books is another matter. I can't bring myself to get rid of them but there is very little if anything I can't find online now. Books are heavy and a pain to move. I see no reason so keep them.

As one page said to the other, I am torn.

 

[berkeman]

I've kept some of my core EE textbooks, as well as other EE-related textbooks that I bought after school (for my work). I've kept a couple of my intro Physics textbooks, as well as all of my medic-related textbooks. I did get rid of my large collection of component databooks that I used in my EE work, since as you say that information is now very available online. I hung onto my TI digital logic databook (with the yellow cover) for a long time though, since it was the first such databook I ever owned (we were required to buy it in undergrad for my first digital logic class). It is gone now, though.

One of my current textbook shelves:

 

[jrmichler]

I've kept some of my core EE textbooks, as well as other EE-related textbooks that I bought after school (for my work). I've kept a couple of my intro Physics textbooks, as well as all of my medic-related textbooks. I did get rid of my large collection of component databooks that I used in my EE work, since as you say that information is now very available online.

Same here, except ME.

 

[fresh_42]

I still use them. When I have a book, I prefer looking things up there rather than searching the internet. I have gathered many original files from the internet: Newton (Latin and English), Gauß, Einstein, Noether, and a couple more. I am a gatherer, and having those historical documents is a nice opportunity in modern times. When I look at my shelves, I see piled books and dozens of bookmarks lurking. I assume that many of them stem from insight articles I wrote. I even have some very old books I once saved from being destroyed. One of them is titled Textbook of Theoretical Physics from 1945. Well, I think it is too old to look things up, but I can't throw away books. And they are meanwhile too used to selling them.

 

[fresh_42]

Same here, except ME.
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My "like" was for Garfield, of course!

 

[nsaspook]

My youngest girl is in her last year of CS and physics, so she's using some of my old books for class background and reorganizing my collection.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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My youngest girl is in her last year of CS and physics, so she's using some of my old books for class background and reorganizing my collection.

Have you been using that Chilton manual much lately?

 

[nsaspook]

Have you been using that Chilton manual much lately?

Sold the old Suburban, so no.

 

[JT Smith]

Mine went into a dumpster (literally) minus a small number I kept for sentimental reasons and the possibility that they would be useful later (they haven't been so far). Probably they have little if any market value. But if I had more space I would have kept them, just to have them.

 

[Dennis]

A small sample of what I have in my library of books.

 

[berkeman]

I hung onto my TI digital logic databook (with the yellow cover) for a long time though, since it was the first such databook I ever owned (we were required to buy it in undergrad for my first digital logic class). It is gone now, though.

Looks like @Dennis kept his...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Sold the old Suburban, so no.

I had a '68 Chevy 3/4 ton with a 396 that I kept for use on the property. By the time I sold the truck, the manual was in worse shape than the truck. But it was so easy to work on!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I made the mistake of loaning out my Radio Astronomy, by Kraus. Never got it back.

Most of my books have all been in boxes since I moved, back in 2013. I was just looking through those boxes and it seems that most of my science and math books survived the divorce and move. I have a few select favorites on a shelf in the living room but never broke out the rest.

On the far right you can see my copy of The Man from Earth - fun movie! And that's Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, between Plato and Feynman. I got a huge charge out of that and reading Socrates. You have to love a guy whose specialty was embarrassing politicians in the public square.

 

[difalcojr]

I had a '68 Chevy 3/4 ton with a 396 that I kept for use on the property. By the time I sold the truck, the manual was in worse shape than the truck. But it was so easy to work on!

What kind of gas mileage did you get from that powerhouse? Big block. Muscle truck.

To the subject, from the responses, seems most favor keeping old and some just any old books. I do too.

From a purely physical science standpoint, and if you have the room, they have value too. Stacking large, full bookcases up against existing sections of ground floor or basement walls will dampen earthquake waves some, like a form of ballast. Useful here in California. And want take up much room. Also, every textbook has something different from the others too, usually, which is valuable.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

What kind of gas mileage did you get from that powerhouse? Big block. Muscle truck.

10 MPG, uphill, downhill, empty, or fully loaded. :D Anytime I checked I always got 10 MPG. I used it when we moved to Oregon, but I normally didn't drive many miles. It was mostly for property maintenance. And it had three fuel tanks as well. So I had a nice reserve of 50 gallons of gas for my emergency generator.

 

[berkeman]

Stacking large, full bookcases up against existing sections of ground floor or basement walls will dampen earthquake waves some, like a form of ballast. Useful here in California.

Um, no. How many California earthquakes have you gone through holding up bookcases? Loma Prieta was the strongest one for me while I held up two bookcases that were trying to fall on me. No apparent earthquake wave damping was observed...

 

[difalcojr]

Well, just an excuse to save books, mostly. Needs more testing. :). Slant the stacking more, maybe. All my many books fell off their shelves in the '89 California quake too, lucky my cat managed to avoid all of them falling down. Had an adult pick me up by the shirt and shake me violently once as a kid, after I threw boulders into his pool, and the '89 quake always reminded me of that violent shaking the same. Big '80 quake in Bishop, CA, and the miners didn't feel the surface wave underground at all. Same here in Oakland in '89 when the Piedmont (built on hardrock) didn't feel it near as much. No loss of power. Building I was in built on siltstone, not much better than sand. Sorry for getting off track here from saving books.

 

[berkeman]

Same here in Oakland in '89 when Piedmont (built on hardrock) didn't feel it near as much.

Yeah, when I'm looking for a new place to live here in Norcal, I confine my searches to houses on bedrock. Important safety tip.

[we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread topic]

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yeah, when I'm looking for a new place to live here in Norcal, I confine my searches to houses on bedrock. Important safety tip.

[we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread topic]

I knew a commercial/residential carpenter who lived in the San Fernando Valley, in CA. He removed key braces in the frame of his house for everything except the bedroom. Then he took out a very large earthquake insurance policy. But they never had a major quake before he sold the house. Presumably he has to put it all back in to sell the place.

Fun fact, I was in the San Fernando quake in 1971, mag 6.6, and the Point Magu quake in 1973, 5.8. The San Fernando quake (which I always called the Sylmar quake) knocked down Olive View hospital and major sections of the I-5 freeway. My uncle had a plane, so I got a bird's eye view of the damage firsthand. It was a very big deal.

 

[BillTre]

When I was at Caltech I heard a story about how they got a lot of insurance money.
They had one of the best engineering for earthquake departments and figured they could figure out which of their buildings would be most damaged in an earthquake. They placed their bets with the insurance companies and eventually got a big payoff.
The insurance companies got the laws changed so they would have to have the same insurance on all of their buildings.

 

[pinball1970]

I can't bring myself to get rid of them but there is very little if anything I can't find online now

Unless you are considering moving I would keep them. I moved a lot after Uni and the books got a bit battered so I replaced a few, gave a few to other younger students.
It is a little gushy but my books are a little like my albums.
I could download decent quality music and have everything at the touch of a button but it would not be the same as getting a gate fold. taking the vinyl out, a gentle polish, knowing where all the little flaws are.

Different with pop Sci, I surrendered those (physics) to charity shops. I kept Leonard Susskind ones and Roger Penrose, "Road to reality."
Those are in my, not text book/not pop sci either, category so its allowed.

 

[fresh_42]

Throwing away books reminds me too much of dark times (or occasionally of modern times) when political leaders burned (or banned) books because of their content. I bought a book only because I read in a Swiss newspaper that a German public prosecutor had indexed it, which in Germany means it cannot be advertised anymore. Maybe more, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I was in the bookstore the very next day. Something similar happened to a song of a German punk band. They just let their audience sing the song instead!