On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 15:21:42 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

I have 6 feet by 20 feet of text books (probably about 2-300), double stacked. 50+ years in the engineering profession.
Primary subjects a Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Hydraulics, Electronics, and heavy on Mathematics.
My heart will not let me throw them away. Gladly give them for free to anybody that could use them.

What have you all done with your library after your career winds down?
Admittedly, the books are old, and all the information therein could be found on the internet today.

Few years ago I took 7 boxes of computer books and gave them to my local used book store. Found out a few weeks later that all were thrown out (many were only 2-3 years old) because people buy novels only. Won't do that again!

There was an age when all these books were necessary. How could you get by without "King's Hydraulic Tables"? GE's electronic tube characteristics, transistor data books etc. Math books on Boolean Algebra, Mechanical Vibrations and so forth.

Yes, I have not looked at these books for five years except the math books. Don't really NEED any of them, but they were my life. When I pass they will simply be thrown away. Maybe I should do it now.

Any experience with this down-sizing would be appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary


If you keep any, only keep the ones devoted to basics and theory. Any
that are practical applications are probably out dated by new codes
and so are useless except for those dealing with applied physics. If
you haven't been practicing in the field they do you no good anyway
since you've forgotten most of what you learned. I used to know
structural design but the methods (working strength, Ultimate
strength, etc) have changed a couple times since I learned it and I
didn't go into the field so what good are old textbooks teaching me
how to do it "wrong" by today's standards? All I kept was Static's
and Dynamics Text, Hydraulics, and one or two others on the basics.