Ask Slashdot: Prioritizing Saleable Used Computer Books? 219
g01d4 writes "I volunteer at a used bookstore that supports the local library. One of my tasks is to sort book donations. For > 5-year-old computer books the choices typically are to save it for sale (fifty cents soft cover, one dollar hardback), pack it, e.g. for another library's bookstore, put it on the free cart, or toss it in the recycle bin. I occasionally dumpster dive the recycle bin to 'rescue' books that I don't think should be pulped. Recently I found a copy of PostgresSQL Essential Reference (2002) and Programming Perl (1996). Would you have left them to RIP? Obviously we have very limited space, 20 shelf feet (storage + sale) for STEM. What criteria would you use when sorting these types of books?"
Let the market decide... (Score:4, Insightful)
"X" depends on your turnover, space, and how many books are coming in. Since you're space limited, get rid of the oldest ones first.
References become dated (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd say the reference book has likely become outdated and current info is easily found on the internet.
But books like the Perl Camel book - much more than merely a reference - those are valuable for long after their topic is upgraded.
My 2 cents. Good luck...
Fundamentals (Score:5, Insightful)
Save anything that is foundational or fundamental to any particular field. Any book that continues to be cited academically or has increased in value on the used market should probably be kept.
My local public library system foolishly trashed some true classics in algorithms, graphics, and fractals simply because they were old. Now all you find in the stacks are books focused on instruction for specific software applications, books which are certain to be obsolete in a few years.
Re:Let the market decide... (Score:4, Insightful)
Not sure that's a problem, the books would at least be avoiding the dumpster or recycler.
Re:Let the market decide... (Score:4, Insightful)
I let the market decide by seeing what Amazon is selling used copies for. If it's 1 cent plus shipping, it gets tossed. "PostgreSQL Essential Reference"? Trash. "Programming Perl" 1st edition? Gone! This has worked quite well for helping cull my personal old book collection. It's easier to get rid of something if I know I can always replace it, should there come an improbable day I would need that ancient book again.
Ya know... (Score:4, Insightful)
We worked really hard in the 70s on so you wouldn't need books. Everything I did was documented with roff/runoff. This begat, in a roundabout way SCRIBE which begat SGML which begat HTML.
I've programmed C since 1974 and still do, daily. I've bought K&R, twice (and have touched a mimeographed copy dmr made pencil notes in belonging to Jim Fleming) and the O'Reily MySql book to get a fucking update statement right in 1997. Fifty bucks for one page. Other than that I just haven't found a need for them. And I've done pretty much everything.
In the post-Internet era what is it exactly you can't learn about computers without a book. I don't even want to hear it's "easier". I'm used to not doing it and fins it much less efficient, especially for this kind of stuff where I'm one click away from a local file as opposed to go find the book, find the page...
Read K&R, Read Knuth. The rest you can easily live without.
(Skip the TeX stuff though, he went insane at some point)
Comp Sci 20 years, applications 2-3 years (Score:4, Insightful)
I have some computer science / theory books that are twenty years old and still quite valuable. Those include Cod on relational database design theory. My Visual Basic 6 books are trash because they cover a specific, outdated version of the software.
Thinking about it further, not only are the good old books theory oriented, the ones that come to mind on authored by the originators of the topic - Cod & Date, K&R, etc. The thoughts of the founding fathers of a discipline are always relevant.
Re:Fundamentals (Score:5, Insightful)
This.
Books on the theory of computing, physics, mathematics, and so on far outlive reference manuals. Keep texts that describe things like O(n) notation, matrix and vector math, graphics, simulations, and so on.
Re:Ya know... (Score:4, Insightful)
Books can provide a nice "all inclusive" feeling for a broad topic, or even a specific one. There are lots of great online resources, but most are limited in scope, and learning that way can have a piecemeal feeling to it. Sometimes it's nice to have a topic covered from a starting point to an ending point by the same author(s) and in a consistent style.
Good example would be "Programming Perl". Sure, you can learn perl in pieces from the gazillion online resources (perlmonks is awesome), but if you read the book cover to cover, you get a kind of well thought out guided path through the language. Personally I've still got my (second edition) copy and occasionally dig it out... it's aged well and makes a great resource.
I'll admit I haven't read a book on anything computing related in a while, but I fear that's more because I haven't really learned anything thoroughly in a while, which kinda scares me...
Re:By Year... (Score:5, Insightful)
*Some* old ones are valuable (Score:5, Insightful)
The APPLE II BASIC programming manual by Jef Raskin currently goes for $52 and up on Amazon. A few years ago I found a late-'90s book on embedded systems programming that turned out to be in demand and later sold for about $100 on Amazon. So look up anything unusual, specific, or that might have nostalgia value there or on Bookfinder.com before you recycle them or sell them for a buck or two.
Re:Ya know... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not sure how helpful your anti-book rant is going to be for a volunteer at a bookstore which helps a library, which happens to be a subculture which is going to be immune to any argument you make, no matter how well presented. They rather like their books, you see, and some of the people they serve don't have computers. Should they come to the library to read the books online?
I will say that I bought an e-Ink device precisely so I could read stuff I got from the internet, in a book like format. I much prefer it, and I can't defend my preference any more than you can argue that I should prefer chocolate or vanilla. I just like it.
If I am one click away from a local file, I would open it instead of the book. But I rarely am. How many times a day are you one click away from the book you need? If your answer is anything other than "okay I was exaggerating" you are weird. Seriously, most people don't keep books on the desktop or in a folder that is always visible.
If I had to plug in an external drive or DVD, wait for it to spin up, browse to the folder, find the file, and wait for the PDF reader to open up, I would open the book. I can make things sound more complicated than they really are to make my point sound more convincing.
I'm also actually quite good at finding what I want to in a book - with practice it gets easier.
Some people agree with you - you are currently at +4. So you're not wrong. But others disagree with you, and we aren't wrong, either.
Re:Ya know... (Score:4, Insightful)
What do you mean by "Skip the TeX stuff though, he went insane at some point"? Is there anything better for producing readable math with both ease and at low cost (that can be used for high quality print publishing if desired)?