On 9/27/2013 6:59 AM, Lawrence K. Chen, P.Eng. wrote:
(I wrote)
How many 18 year old technical books still have useful information that pertains to what you do on a day to day basis? Having just cleaned out most of my library, I can tell you that the number is vanishingly small.
I've been thinking of cleaning out my library.... Especially since a while back I took advantage of the deal to get ebook versions of most of my O'Reilly books that I've registered as owning.
I have zero technical books on my Kindle, even though I originally bought it for just that reason. It turns out that if I'm using those, I have multiple bookmarks (with notes on them, often), and I flip back and forth while I'm using one for specific items. My last Active Directory book permanently fell open on certain pages, because I'd spent so much time walking around with a finger saving the place I was reading (and that book was HEAVY). As an aside, why is it that Microsoft writes (to be kind) less than wonderful operating systems, and yet their books on them are some of the best you can buy. Code Complete is a work of art.
...Which probably says I don't really need the books that are still in boxes.
You may be surprised when you go through them, although books that have been in boxes for 7+ years are more likely to be candidates for being donated to your local library (or other place that can sell them).
Wonder if O'Reilly requires that I continue to own the book?
Seems like they would. At least, it would seem like they'd prefer you to not profit from it.
BTW, as an aside, Amazon buys back books that you may not have a use for any more...Amazon is an intermediary for the used book stores that will be selling them, and it was an excellent experience.
I may have to try them out some day....wonder if there's a problem if I do this with O'Reilly books.
Several of the books I sold back were O'Reilly. Please note that nearly all of the books I sold back were recent. Here's the link, for anyone who wants to put in ISBN numbers. http://www.amazon.com/Sell-Books/b/ref=sv_b_6?ie=UTF8&node=2205237011 As a rule of thumb, if the copyright is from the last century, they probably are not going to want it (although they bought back a couple of my books on how to write computer viruses, and those were OLD).
OTOH, if I'm really going blind....I might not need my current library at all.
Then you'll be grateful for your Kindle, which can be used to listen to as well as read. -- Do not rouse the Old Ones from the chthonic caverns of their repose. Do not taunt the dragon which at present glances at you idly through one slightly opened eye. Do not become someone's hobby. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
