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Old 23rd Mar 2018, 12:36 pm   #41
greenstar
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I am a compulsive downloader of books, which I love in any form, although I find I don't read stuff on my computer/tablet very much. Yes, a cheap magazine sized pdf reader would help, if it had a kindle type paper like screen. If i find a good site with free material I save stuff, as I find it may not be there next time it's needed.
But real paper books are the thing for me. I find a period book gives me sense of connection to the time. There needs to be a word for the quality something acquires over time, it's character, which digital things entirely lack. I have to admit a liking for old encyclopaedias, and have editions of Chamber's and Harmsworth's.
No space left though.
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Old 23rd Mar 2018, 12:44 pm   #42
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I much prefer paper books to electronic versions, although obviously I will use the latter if I can't get the book on paper. I actively buy just about any old technical books that I don't already have. There is a certain joy to reading the original Maxwell book on electricity and magnetism, the books by Fred Terman, etc. And as others have said it's a lot easier to read a service manual on paper at the bench than a computer screen.

Of course information changes, but I read the books with reference to their dates. I don't seriously think that the chapter 'Building a Disk Visor' in one of my pre-war television books will help me fix a digital television. I do think it will let me see how the first TVs worked

There are some fasciniting things in some of the older books. An electromechanical FIFO buffer used to store the train descriptors on the London Underground, for example. Or a robot dog built with valves.

When I moved into this house I decided to turn a spare bedroom into a 'library'. I put bookshelves floor-to-ceiling on the 3 walls that didn't have the window. Unpacked about 1/5th of my books and filled them.

I offer a challenge to any technically-minded person who visits me : I show them an old hat and then ask them to look along the bookshelves. If they can't find one book that is interesting/unusual/worth reading then I will eat the hat. So far it is perfectly safe.
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Old 23rd Mar 2018, 10:26 pm   #43
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I also prefer using the original paper manuals for repairing my vintage test gear (I now have enough to fill a small filing cabinet), but they do seem to be getting harder to find now that two of the bigger suppliers have closed down, manualsplus a few years ago & Tucker (only found out recently after noticing their listings disappearing).

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Old 23rd Mar 2018, 11:16 pm   #44
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I have amassed a number of old books from various library clear-outs at workplaces, but they do take up space. I went on a bookbinding course at the local adult education centre a couple of years ago, and so have been able to restore some of my favourite volumes that had fallen into disrepair, but it all takes time.

I usually print PDFs that I need to refer to in detail to paper rather than reading them off screen. If a document is more than a few pages, I sometimes turn them into paperback books by glueing what will become the spine edge with two or three thin layers of traditional smelly Evostik, enclosed with heavier paper end covers and clamped using fold-back clips while the first layer dries. Unlike staples, this method allows the "Book" to be opened and laid flat without the pages springing back, and if necessary the pages can be removed by simply pulling them out. When I was working I could use the double-sided printer at work, but have to put up with single-sided these days. (At home I can print alternate pages, reload the paper, and print the other alternate pages in reverse, but it's a bit of a faff and sometimes pages stick, ruining the print run.) On the other hand, when I don't need a single-sided copy any more, I can glue a piece of card on the front and use the plain sides as a scrap pad, as the pages detach easily enough.
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Old 24th Mar 2018, 10:03 am   #45
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

Don't forget some people, like me, suffer from presbyopia and find it difficult reading a real book. I can read an ebook on a tablet without glasses.
 
Old 24th Mar 2018, 1:32 pm   #46
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I can imagine e-books been easier to read for a lot of people: you can increase the text size and some sort of electronic device could be easier to hold than a large book.
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Old 24th Mar 2018, 3:19 pm   #47
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

You are quite right about sizing documents for display.
Do you remember those 4 foot across blue prints we had to fumble with in old times.
I have a computer screen in the very place that a book would be propped up to display these type of documents. It saves a lot of space all be it a little less appealing without the smell of an old blue print.
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Old 24th Mar 2018, 6:52 pm   #48
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

Indeed. We've got some 30 inch monitors at work. Those look great for showing service info and schematics etc. Problem is I have about as much room for one as I did for giant blueprints
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Old 24th Mar 2018, 9:16 pm   #49
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I liked those D-sized Ozalid prints. I've still got my Rotring pens and some stencils, but no draughting mylar left.

I need to find where I put the master of the circuit diagram for my hifi amplifier, but If I ever want to take a copy, I suppose it'll be a case of hanging the thing on a white wall and getting the DSLR going. I wonder where the nearest diazo copier is now?

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Old 24th Mar 2018, 10:27 pm   #50
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

I think the question is do you want a book for the experience of having a book or do you want the info in it? Books take up a lot of space and if you really only want the info in them then a digital copy is much easier to store than a physical book. I used to have hundreds, no thousands, of magazines filling up the house. When I realised I could get them on DVD most of the magazines ended up in the tip when I moved. A bit like Radio Museum really. How many warehouses would you need to store all those radios?
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Old 25th Mar 2018, 1:42 am   #51
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The internet Archive is a good place for downloading books.
Internet Archive Electronic books
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Old 25th Mar 2018, 10:10 am   #52
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Default Re: Is there a future for old unwanted books?

....and if anyone has a requirement to dispose of 'old books' I'm sure there are members on here who would gladly give them a new home.
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