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It's Spring and time to jettison items I have not used in years. A long, long time ago, I had my first contact with Windows, ActiveX controls and Microsoft's incessant renaming of tech items. Sitting on my desk are two books about COM and COM+ development (MS books). I also have one for C# 2.0, and an original Code Complete. Now I know the last one is somewhat of a collector's item, but I barely if ever cracked open the COM books.
Anyone else here have trouble letting go of books? Anyone interested in these books?
Trying to apply the three rules of clutter management:
1) Are you using it?
2) If not, is it making money?
3) If not, do you love it?
No? Time to toss it.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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I have a copy of DOS 4 user manual, but if I get rid my desk will wobble again
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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I have that and the manual of the Amstrad 386 PC that had it on board, both of them with the same cover design. I'll never let go of them... as I still have a battered copy of PC No Problem, year 1995.
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
I use 1TBS
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Yes I hate pitching old books, even ones I never use. Just a thing I guess.
Last time I moved I took a car load of them to the local library and dropped them. There were probably about 50 books most of the real old ones I pitched and the ones that I dropped were newer and the kind that are time agnostic so to speak.
New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.1 new web site.
When you are dead you don't know it, it's only difficult for others.
It's the same when you're stupid.
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#1 Rule of den2k88's household: never toss books;
#2 Rule of den2k88's household: there is no such thing as a useless book;
#3 Rule of den2k88's household: there is no concept such as there are too many books.
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
I use 1TBS
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I believed that, until I had to move and worked out how heavy 5000-odd paperbacks can be...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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5000 odd paperbacks! now that's a porn collection
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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"Paperback" not "Pixelback"! 
They were mostly SF and fantasy.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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That's why we bought a 400 square meters house now I'm moving on my own in a smaller rented apartment and the books are actually the heaviest part, besides some of the furniture. But I regret nothing *_*
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
I use 1TBS
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I had a big box of ttl data books from signetics and ti.
Along with various manuals like qemm.
I thought wow, this is going to wig out any "normal" that finds these.
I had a hard time getting rid of them. But I did.
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I had a load of VB4 books I got for a specific purpose, but then found they didn't burn very well
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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Trash them (well, recycle then).
At one point in my life, I thought it was nice to keep all my old books (technical, fiction, non-fiction) into nicely stack bookshelves.
But one day, I found out that I never (really rarely) grab a book from the shelves and more importantly, I was moving to a smaller (but better) apartment and I recycled (nearly) all my books.
I now have a small bookshelf with maybe 50 books (cook books, art books, some college year books).
All that I need to read nowadays is available electronically or from the local public libraries.
I'd rather be phishing!
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Preserve them for twenty more years in the attic; they're likely fetch a fortune in an auction.
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you think that a book on post error codes for a IBM 286 will be worth money in the Future?
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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Someone may come up with an idea of an (old) computer museum.
Or some (possibly ivy-league) university may get a grant for preserving old computer books - better if the book has discolored paper 
Where I live (Bangalore, India), they buy old books by weight; fetches about Rs. 10 per kg of books (about a US dollar for 6 kgs of books). I just disposed some of them recently. Goes for recycling.
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In the UK we already have a museum of computing (its at Bletchley, home of the worlds first electronic computer
http://www.tnmoc.org/[^]
)
however I doubt that tech books will ever be wanted (computer OEM manuals maybe)
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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Agree.
In Bangalore too, there's a museum which houses one of Bangalore's earliest mainframes - DEC 10. I had worked on this very system about 28 years ago, and its now a museum piece.
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attic is already full of useless "stuff"
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Yes, its always a dilemma - what to keep, what to dispose.
I (try to) follow this rule: Keep all concept-related books (physics, math, algorithms, numerical methods); throw away all technology-related ones (especially computer languages).
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A place I worked in the 80's had a DEC VAX in the warehouse gathering dust, they replaced it with a PC despite not having paid it off yet
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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charlieg wrote: Trying to apply the three rules of clutter relationship management:
1) Are you using it?
2) If not, is it making money?
3) If not, do you love it?
No? Time to toss it.
Marc
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Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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My wife finally persuaded me to chuck some books about hardware that can be found only in museums (mostly 80x86 and graphics cards), but she will pry my genuine IBM PC/XT Technical Reference Manual (in the original three-ring binder!) out of my cold, dead, hands!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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charlieg wrote: have trouble letting go of books?
Trouble? No. I just don't do it. Nearly every time I part with something, I immediately want it back.
And some of my "old books" are recent acquisitions. 
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