What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? • Hacker News Board

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#271

Post by SLWW » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:01 AM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #244

ortusdux wrote: post #78

I once took a critical thinking course and bought the textbook 2nd hand from the college bookstore. A week or two in, I noticed half of a sentence written in the margin. As the professor started teaching the topic from that page, he rhetorically asked a question, did not get an answer, and then answered himself with the sentence from the book. I filliped ahead and found that the entire book was annotated with all of…

In a similar vein, I also found a 1950's guide to a happy marriage that had been thoroughly annotated by the husband. He was so honest that it was like finding someone's therapy session notes at a thrift store. The inside cover had a pro-con table, with 'appearance' as the first entry in the con section. Inside the back cover was a game-plan that seemed to indicate that he wanted to strengthen his marriage, so I gues…

Would love to find that book as I'm sure his annotations help set expectations.

It's nice when you find someone trying to improve there love life when the honeymoon phase is over and the somewhat crushing reality of her/him shortcomings come to the surface.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#272

Post by tmoertel » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:02 AM UTC

About 15 years ago, I purchased a hardcover copy of Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, published in 1946. Inside the cover was the following inscription:

    Ambassador Douglas (in pencil)

    Geyelin,
      4511 Cath. Ave. N.W. (in pen)

Intrigued, I started researching the names and dates. Here's what I pieced together.

In 1947, Philip L. Geyelin, then working at the Wall Street Journal, gave the book as a gift to Lewis Williams Douglas, who had recently become the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. (Geyelin had joined the Journal in 1946 and probably would have known the book's author, Henry Hazlitt, who was also at the Journal at that time.) My hunch is that the book was given to influence Douglas's thinking about economic policies that should be adopted to restore the UK and Europe after World War II.

As it turned out, Douglas was instrumental to the passage and implementation of the Marshall Plan.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#273

Post by SLWW » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:16 AM UTC

I think the strangest thing I've ever found in a book had to be in the University's Library (still upset that i gave away my second edition Mein Kampf, that's why you don't give an alcoholic an interesting book, they'll pawn it off in a second to make ends meet)

I found a book on Visual Basic, ironically that language is what I work in today as it's an older legacy application. This book was quite passé even for it's release, however it was a big mega-tome of information concerning version 4. The previous owner left a few notes in the margins where he would write odd musings, probably when he had them as he was studying the drab text (truly was the most boring book on the subject I've ever found) it was one of these that I found a strange comment. He detailed a woman's features, didn't come off as creepy, just kind of odd; long black hair, lovely soft brown eyes, fair skin, etc. followed by a comment to the effect of, "writing it down now, since she'll be gone." and that hit different. You could tell by how he was writing that he was quite emotional.

It's a moment that clearly communicates the the one who finds the note that he had lost that race, too bad, he seemed to really take to her.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#274

Post by calvinmorrison » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:21 AM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #244

ortusdux wrote: post #78

I once took a critical thinking course and bought the textbook 2nd hand from the college bookstore. A week or two in, I noticed half of a sentence written in the margin. As the professor started teaching the topic from that page, he rhetorically asked a question, did not get an answer, and then answered himself with the sentence from the book. I filliped ahead and found that the entire book was annotated with all of…

In a similar vein, I also found a 1950's guide to a happy marriage that had been thoroughly annotated by the husband. He was so honest that it was like finding someone's therapy session notes at a thrift store. The inside cover had a pro-con table, with 'appearance' as the first entry in the con section. Inside the back cover was a game-plan that seemed to indicate that he wanted to strengthen his marriage, so I gues…

Not a book, but I just picked up a index card metal box from the Goodwill. Somewhere around 50 index cards, diligently updated with new addresses, half on type half by hand. This guy was in correspondence, or at least subscribed to a half dozen oddball societies, religious groups and more boring local plumbing companies etc. It's a fascinating bit, I think for my next RR&R Challenge, I might try to find out who this guy was. Would make at least for a fun tale cold calling and saying "Hey, can you tell me what the current address you have on file for account #217 is?" . Most recent update looks to be around the year 2000.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#275

Post by Cerium » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:22 AM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #192

ortusdux wrote: post #78

I once took a critical thinking course and bought the textbook 2nd hand from the college bookstore. A week or two in, I noticed half of a sentence written in the margin. As the professor started teaching the topic from that page, he rhetorically asked a question, did not get an answer, and then answered himself with the sentence from the book. I filliped ahead and found that the entire book was annotated with all of…

So my version of that story is less analog and arguably less academically honest. I had a somewhat challenging mid-level math class in college where after each homework assignment and test the professor would give us a URL to a PDF of his scanned handwritten completed version of the work. The URL path was something like /math-321/2019/fall/test-1.pdf, and the professor diligently made sure that each file wasn't avail…

My chapter of Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society) got so tired of how unfair it was that people would share around old tests and decided to do something about it. Since there is no way to stop people from doing this, we got permission from the dean to start a test and study sheet bank and made it publicly accessible on a website.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#276

Post by jbuzbee » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:27 AM UTC

When Aldrich Ames, the notorious CIA KGB double-agent was sent to prison, his personal library ended up in a used bookstore in the DC area and I picked up a few volumes that had his name stamped on the inside.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#277

Post by spiffytech » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:30 AM UTC

Since everyone's talking about textbooks: I thought I'd save money buying the "international edition", since it seemed to have all the same information.

I had homework assignments that required analyzing color-coded diagrams in the book. Except the international edition was printed in black and white!

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#278

Post by sizzzzlerz » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:36 AM UTC

At a garage sale, I bought a bagful of books, sight unseen, for a dollar. When I got it home and starting looking at what was there, I found a first edition of Edward Abbey's The Monkeywrench Gang. Inside the book was an envelope addressed to the original purchaser, I suppose. Inside that was a letter from Abbey, written in response to a letter the purchaser had sent him, thanking him for his kind words. I had the handwriting in the letter along with its signature authenticated. I now have it framed. Pretty cool!

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#279

Post by dghughes » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:36 AM UTC

Recently $23 dollars in $1 bills. Which is strange for Canada in 2022 since dollar bills were discontinued in 1989.

Re: What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?

#280

Post by Retric » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 12:43 AM UTC

shepherdjerred wrote: post #129

gostsamo wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I read HPMOR and this paragraph was one of many delights there: The cold in the room seemed to deepen. “A sixth-year Gryffindor cast a curse at one of my more promising students, a sixth-year Slytherin.” Harry swallowed. “What...sort of curse?” And the fury on Professor Quirrell’s face was no longer contained. “Why bother to ask an unimportant question like that, Mr Potter? Our friend the sixth-year Gryffind…

Do you recommend HMOR? I’ve never heard of it, but the Wikipedia page sounded interesting

It's ok for fanfiction, but very poor compared to literature.

Just don’t actually think about it too deeply or the entire premise falls apart. The world is 100% operating on the rule of cool, and that's ok.