Burn them for heat.
Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
41–50 of 73 posts
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#42Most old books are effectively disposable decor - the industry prints them by the millions and many have a limited life akin to the Dreamweaver how-to's. The "last a lifetime" highly sought-after books are truly the exception here. For archival purposes you can go see if it's in the Library of Congress or scanned into Internet Archive, and if not, that's a project you can opt to take on(but it's pretty high effort).…
What are some examples of comp Sci/programming "last a lifetime" books? I am just a little confused about this statement.
I have a more recent one from 1990. "Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages" by Bertrand Meyer. It is math heavy.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#43Use it to raise your monitor to the right height
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#44Hollow them out and hide stuff inside. The old hardcover Java books work particularly well.
Those pale blue hardcover Unix books are quite excellent, made for this job. Best would be to hide possibly embarrassing, smaller, books in there. Crap du jour "in a nutshell", that sort of stuff. On the outside, you are a gray beard, reading Stevenson and knowing the ins and outs of Unix Networking, TCP/IP, and System Calls, but on the inside, the secret of your actual software career "in a nutshell" is laid bare in secret compartments.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#45Use it to raise your monitor to the right height
I got one of those VESA mounts so the Perl, and Java books have been replaced by technology.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#46Donate to the libraries.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#47I used to donate them to my local library because I thought they would know best what is worth to keep and what to throw away.
Did your library know you were donating them or did you just leave them by the door? The polite and ethical thing would be to call and ask if they accept such donations first. If they don't you're saddling them with the cost of disposal instead of paying it yourself.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#48> I can't really see there's much demand for Java 1.3, or Dreamweaver 4. Designate one bookshelf as your "memory shelf". Keep the books on the languages you learned the most from or that remind you of your best (or most horrible) projects, and place them on that shelf. Display it prominently, and it will be become a conversation starter for every nerd that comes to your home. "OMG, I haven't thought about Dreamweaver…
I like this idea, but if I did this I would have to have the conversation outside of my flat.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#49Most old books are effectively disposable decor - the industry prints them by the millions and many have a limited life akin to the Dreamweaver how-to's. The "last a lifetime" highly sought-after books are truly the exception here. For archival purposes you can go see if it's in the Library of Congress or scanned into Internet Archive, and if not, that's a project you can opt to take on(but it's pretty high effort).…
What are some examples of comp Sci/programming "last a lifetime" books? I am just a little confused about this statement.
IMO, the following would be in that category:
Algorithms, unix networking, assembly books, the art of computer programming, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, anything by Benjamin Pierce, good compiler books, discrete mathematics, the art of electronics, Princeton Companion to Mathematics, Spivak's Calculus, ...
Re: Ask HN: What to do with old computer books?
#50Donate to the libraries.
I tried this and the library was not interested (as in, refused to take a look at the books cover).