Ping John Larkin, Phil Hobbs etc. re books

[Ivan Vegvary]

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice regarding disposition of technical books.
I have probably over a 1000 technical books that I have accumulated over many decades. Just turned 77 and concerned about what to do with my library. I had a Professional Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over 40 years.

Books range from sanitation, sewer practice, bridge design, highway and railway design, soils, structural.
Non-Civil books include an extensive library on advanced mathematics, radio/television repair, electronics, physics, chemistry, metal working and machinery. Yes, many books are old, some of the plumbing design books are from the 1890's. (Extremely interesting illustrations).
I have already given away my land surveying texts (about 50), my chess books (about 120) and most of my music theory books.

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of music. About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers, the rest are titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a frustrated piano player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all the way up to the mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

 

[Michael Terrell]

On Saturday, January 25, 2020 at 9:52:14 PM UTC-5, Ivan Vegvary wrote:

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice regarding disposition of technical books.
I have probably over a 1000 technical books that I have accumulated over many decades. Just turned 77 and concerned about what to do with my library. I had a Professional Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over 40 years.

Books range from sanitation, sewer practice, bridge design, highway and railway design, soils, structural.
Non-Civil books include an extensive library on advanced mathematics, radio/television repair, electronics, physics, chemistry, metal working and machinery. Yes, many books are old, some of the plumbing design books are from the 1890's. (Extremely interesting illustrations).
I have already given away my land surveying texts (about 50), my chess books (about 120) and most of my music theory books.

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of music. About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers, the rest are titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a frustrated piano player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all the way up to the mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

As a last resort, you could donate them to http://www.archive.org.

 

[gray_wolf]

On 25/01/2020 8:52 pm, Ivan Vegvary wrote:

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice regarding disposition of technical books.
I have probably over a 1000 technical books that I have accumulated over many decades. Just turned 77 and concerned about what to do with my library. I had a Professional Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over 40 years.

Books range from sanitation, sewer practice, bridge design, highway and railway design, soils, structural.
Non-Civil books include an extensive library on advanced mathematics, radio/television repair, electronics, physics, chemistry, metal working and machinery. Yes, many books are old, some of the plumbing design books are from the 1890's. (Extremely interesting illustrations).
I have already given away my land surveying texts (about 50), my chess books (about 120) and most of my music theory books.

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of music. About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers, the rest are titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a frustrated piano player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all the way up to the mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

I'm a book collector too and I'll be 80 soon. I'm sure there are some survival
people that would love these books. They need to be preserved I think. I'd
contact James Wesley Rawles at
https://survivalblog.com/contact He has a very large audience and knows a lot
of people that may be interested.

 

Ivan Vegvary <ivanvegvary@gmail.com> wrote in
news:45bed416-9b54-4df5-8d21-763fdf91c9d1@googlegroups.com:

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two
gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice
regarding disposition of technical books. I have probably over a
1000 technical books that I have accumulated over many decades.
Just turned 77 and concerned about what to do with my library. I
had a Professional Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over
40 years.

Books range from sanitation, sewer practice, bridge design,
highway and railway design, soils, structural. Non-Civil books
include an extensive library on advanced mathematics,
radio/television repair, electronics, physics, chemistry, metal
working and machinery. Yes, many books are old, some of the
plumbing design books are from the 1890's. (Extremely interesting
illustrations). I have already given away my land surveying texts
(about 50), my chess books (about 120) and most of my music theory
books.

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash,
yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment
is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of
employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that
most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of
postage.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach
from your texts?

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of
music. About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers,
the rest are titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a
frustrated piano player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all
the way up to the mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

Digitize them and publish the PDFs online.

Or, digitize each one that you sell as you sell it.

 

On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 18:52:09 -0800 (PST), Ivan Vegvary
<ivanvegvary@gmail.com> wrote:

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice regarding disposition of technical books.
I have probably over a 1000 technical books that I have accumulated over many decades. Just turned 77 and concerned about what to do with my library. I had a Professional Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over 40 years.

Books range from sanitation, sewer practice, bridge design, highway and railway design, soils, structural.
Non-Civil books include an extensive library on advanced mathematics, radio/television repair, electronics, physics, chemistry, metal working and machinery. Yes, many books are old, some of the plumbing design books are from the 1890's. (Extremely interesting illustrations).
I have already given away my land surveying texts (about 50), my chess books (about 120) and most of my music theory books.

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of music. About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers, the rest are titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a frustrated piano player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all the way up to the mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

I have that same problem. I have a ton of wonderful technical books
that few people would want. If I donate them to the Friends of the
Library, they would likely wind up pulped.

I guess one could email bomb a bunch of university and public
libraries, post a list here, ebay, maybe fraternities?

I have cool "Radio" books back to 1921. Wow, that's 99 years.






--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

The cork popped merrily, and Lord Peter rose to his feet.
"Bunter", he said, "I give you a toast. The triumph of Instinct over Reason"

 

[Tom Gardner]

On 26/01/20 16:23, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
> I have cool "Radio" books back to 1921. Wow, that's 99 years.

That's significantly further away than the 22nd century. Gulp.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 18:52:09 -0800 (PST), Ivan Vegvary
<ivanvegvary@gmail.com> wrote:

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

It's terribly important that books are preserved IMO. If we ever come
to a dystopian Farenheit 451 future where all physical books have been
destroyed and there is only the internet to turn to for 'approved
versions' of them, then we're screwed. If we're not already.

>So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

I feel your pain. I once had to chuck a perfectly good and fully
working Tek 555 scope into a dumpster when I moved house some years
ago. I can still hear the dreadful crashing noise as it hit the
bottom. I still awaken some nights in a delirious sweat whenever I
suffer a flashback to that terrible day, more than 20 years ago now.
I'll probably never fully recover.
--

No deal? No problem! :-D

 

[Phil Hobbs]

On 2020-01-25 21:52, Ivan Vegvary wrote:

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two
gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice regarding
disposition of technical books. I have probably over a 1000 technical
books that I have accumulated over many decades. Just turned 77 and
concerned about what to do with my library. I had a Professional
Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over 40 years.

Books range from sanitation, sewer practice, bridge design, highway
and railway design, soils, structural. Non-Civil books include an
extensive library on advanced mathematics, radio/television repair,
electronics, physics, chemistry, metal working and machinery. Yes,
many books are old, some of the plumbing design books are from the
1890's. (Extremely interesting illustrations). I have already given
away my land surveying texts (about 50), my chess books (about 120)
and most of my music theory books.

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash,
yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is
simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of
employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that
most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach
from your texts?

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of music.
About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers, the rest are
titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a frustrated piano
player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all the way up to the
mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

Donating them to archive.org would be a good possibility. Or list them
on abebooks.com and see who comes out of the woodwork. You could maybe
work out an arrangement with a local used book store to handle the
listings if you don't feel like doing it. Cataloguing them might be a
good after-school job for a local high school student with a technical bent.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

http://electrooptical.net
http://hobbs-eo.com

 

[keith wright]

American Radio History has many thousands of books and magazines scanned and freely available.

They accept donations of historic technical literature.

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm

....

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Monday, January 27, 2020 at 4:54:30 AM UTC+11, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 18:52:09 -0800 (PST), Ivan Vegvary
ivanvegvary@gmail.com> wrote:

It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage.

It's terribly important that books are preserved IMO. If we ever come
to a dystopian Farenheit 451 future where all physical books have been
destroyed and there is only the internet to turn to for 'approved
versions' of them, then we're screwed. If we're not already.

At the moment the internet - as accessed in the west - has everything, including the approved versions that have been adjusted to suit Cursitor Doom's perverse needs and desires.

The physical books that formed Adolf Hitler's equally - if differently - perverse world view still exist, along with a lot more more reliable printed information.

The only virtue of physical books is that it is a bit more obvious when they have been rewritten to match current orthodoxy.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

I feel your pain. I once had to chuck a perfectly good and fully
working Tek 555 scope into a dumpster when I moved house some years
ago. I can still hear the dreadful crashing noise as it hit the
bottom. I still awaken some nights in a delirious sweat whenever I
suffer a flashback to that terrible day, more than 20 years ago now.
I'll probably never fully recover.
--

No deal? No problem! :-D

 

[Neon John]

On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 18:52:09 -0800 (PST), Ivan Vegvary
<ivanvegvary@gmail.com> wrote:

Been lurking on this news group for many years. I thought the two gentlemen mentioned above (and others) could give me advice regarding disposition of technical books.
I have probably over a 1000 technical books that I have accumulated over many decades. Just turned 77 and concerned about what to do with my library. I had a Professional Civil Engineering Consulting practice for over 40 years.

I'm in the same situation. The local library doesn't want them, even
for their free and sale book events. The high school library doesn't
want them. My next step is to put them up on Craig's list free
section. If I don't get any hits, then unfortunately it's off to the
dump unless someone has another idea.

>It would break my heart to throw the remaining books in the trash, yet that is exactly what will happen on my passing. My attachment is simply this: I raised and provided for a family, and dozens of employees based on the knowledge in these books. Yes, I know that most of this is available on the internet.

The problem is, people don't realize how superior the material is
presented in these old books. Today, most books I've reviewed are more
some PhD trying to impress the reader with his knowledge rather than
presenting the material in an easy to read and understand format.

I would gladly give away any and all for the simple cost of postage,

Likewise.

So, gentlemen, what have you done? How did you emotionally detach from your texts?

I've picked out a few dozen I'm going to keep. Then I'll put up a
post on the free section of Craig's list

I'm being forced by health problems to move into an independent living
facility so lots of stuff has gotta go.

I also have a fairly large collection of tools. Most are give-away; a
few are for sale cheap.

My major problem is that I have only about half of one lung working
so I don't have the endurance to pack and ship. I do have a friend
from upstate NY who comes down and spends the winter with us. As long
as he's here, he can do the packing and shipping.

If anyone is interested, contact me at jgd@neon-john.com

Thanks
John

BTW, what I am not getting rid of, are over 14,000 titles of music. About 12,000 are singles with nostalgia inducing covers, the rest are titles within album collections. And, yes, I'm a frustrated piano player and am familiar with over 5-6000 songs all the way up to the mid 1970's.

Help. Advice please.

John DeArmond
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.tnduction.com
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
See website for email address

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 18:52:09 -0800 (PST), Ivan Vegvary
<ivanvegvary@gmail.com> wrote:

>Help. Advice please.

I have the same problem:
<http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/bookshelf.html>
The local book stores didn't want used books. The schools weren't
interested. I tried to give them away for free and ended up with an
education in dealing with scam artists. However, I did manage to get
rid of a few of my older pre-WWII technical books via Powell's:
<http://www.powells.com/sell-books>
Just type in the ISBN numbers, and Powell's will let you know which
books they want and how much they'll pay. Notice that they'll pay
shipping. I didn't get much for the books, but it was better than
recycling them.

I managed to sell a few small book collections on eBay. Instead of
selling individual books, I grouped them together by topic and sold
them as a lot. For example, some books on Enigma, Bletchley Park, and
Enigma:
<http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/ultra/slides/Ultra-Books.html>
(I plan to keep these). The problem here is the cost of shipping
collections. They can be big and heavy.

I've also sold a few books via Alibris:
<https://www.alibris.com/sellers>
The problem was that I tended to consider the books in better
condition than what the buyer thought resulting in a few returns. I
now rate the condition very conservatively and worse than the actual
condition to avoid an argument. I also have an incurable problem of
buying more used books than I sell and then not reading them for
months.

I've donated books to the local Goodwill Book Store:
<https://www.ccgoodwill.org/donate/what-to-donate/>
The have a local outlet exclusively for books, with limited space.
They've refused to accept donations when there is no available shelf
space. They also have the irritating habit of scattering multi-volume
book collections all over the store largely based on available space.

Another local store that accepts books is Gray Bears:
<https://www.greybears.org/thrift-store/bookstore/>
Same shelf space problem as Goodwill. They also accept some eWaste
and resell used electronics in their store or on eBay:
<https://www.greybears.org/thrift-store/computer-store/>

If you're going to ship books via USPS, I suggest you look into media
or book rate schedule:
<https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-Media-Mail-Book-Rate>
<https://www.usps.com/ship/mail-shipping-services.htm>
<https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c059>
<https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c156>
It's not a huge discount, but worth the effort.

Good luck.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Carlos]

This post really breaks my heart at many levels. I'm 36 and have been on the
Usenet since I was 14. It's a fact of life that people get old and pass away,
but I never faced the fact that people who got on the Usenet when they were in
their fifties are approaching their eighties nowadays.

I find it delightful that you care so much about your books. Let me propose you
an out-of-the-box idea:


Find a book reviewer youtuber and donate/sell your library to them.


Nowadays, Youtube has created a new species of information lovers. Some of them
collect and review old books, others collect and review old videogames, others
collect and review old computers.

The "retro" Youtube community is huge. And it has an interesting angle for you:
you can get to "know" the person you'll be donating/selling to, because you can
watch their videos first.

1. Go to youtube.com
2. Search for "review <name of book that you love>"
3. Watch a few videos, lurk around their profiles, get to know these reviwers
well, evaluate if they are going to provide a good home to your library.


I myself would be interested in some old technical books, but I think that a
youtuber can review and expose those books, while some "regular person" like
myself can only appreciate them in their bookshelf.

That's my bet. I can provide you with more directions or keep trying to provide
more context if this idea is too radical for you.