[geeks] Conflicted - old books

[Grant Taylor]

On 3/18/21 6:57 PM, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> So, after 2 moves I have a number of boxes that are full of random
> bits from 30 years of tinkering w/ electronics. I need to go thru
> and pare it down to something more manageable.

Don't we all.

> To that end, I'm trying to go thru 2 boxes/week,

<ASCII thumbs up>

> and in the process, I came across two very old Linux books - old
> enough to have Red Hat 4.2 and 5.0 on a CD in the books.
>
> It was fun to go thru and remember how crappy Linux setup was almost
> 25 years ago, but I know, I mean I really know, I'll never, ever grab
> that book off the shelf if I decide to put it on a shelf.

You might not.  But I bet that there are some that would.

I actually know some people that have been installing ancient Red Hat
(pre-Red Hat Enterprise Linux) for various reasons.

> The easy answer is pull the CDs out and recycle the book, but can I
> do that?  It used to be that you couldn't recycle books (binding an
> issue, I presume), is that still discouraged?

I can't say as I've heard of an inability to recycle the book.  But I'd
think that a band saw would go through a stack of books cutting the
spine off and then allow you to recycle loose leaf pages.  The covers
might need to be dealt with differently.

However!  Before you do that, I'd consider seeing if there is anyone
that might be interested in the books as they are for what they are.

I personally have purchased with fiat currency almost a dozen books
anywhere between 5 and 25 years old within the last year.  I had to pay
shipping for some of them.

There seems to be a thriving used book market.  Many of the books that
I've bought have come from said used book market.  The few others have
come from eBay.

> I know the book has no technical or curiosity value,

You say that.

But I question the veracity of your statement.

To be perfectly honest, I'd be curious to learn what books you have
(titles, ISBNs, condition, and any accessories like CDs / DVDs).

> but I feel the desire to keep it as a Zoom/Webex background...

I can see how that would be good if you were actually destroying the
books for recycling purposes.  However ....

> I have a ton of similar books - I mean maybe, literally, an actual
> ton - what's the best way to dispose of them?

Where are you?

Do you have a list?

I'm serious.

> Looking for suggestions,

I'd suggest with seeing if there is anyone that would buy (some of) the
books from you.  After that, see if there is someone that will pay
shipping to take them off of your hands.  Then it's down hill from there.

I'd suspect that there is more value in the books than you realize.
Granted, it may be value to someone other than you.  Admittedly, the
value needs to be large enough to be worth your time to do more than put
them in the trash.

But I'm serious about the list of books.  What 'cha got?



--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

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