I sold six technical books to a used book store on the way home today. The store paid me $5 total for four of the books. Two books they didn’t want at all. The books were not that old, but they were practically worthless.
It’s sobering to think how little a technical book is worth a few years after it is printed. It’s a good reminder to focus on things that will last.
Related posts:
Old math books
C. S. Lewis on reading old books
Mathematica turns 20
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Daniel Lemire 10.20.09 at 22:36
Even non-technical books lose value quite fast.
John 10.20.09 at 22:47
True, but some books retain their value much better than others. Here’s an interesting exercise: Which of your books might your grandchildren care about?
I would hope that my grandchildren are interested in my copies of Witness (1952) and Story of Civilization (1963).
Jason Adams 10.21.09 at 05:16
I like going through antique stores and finding collections of books to see what sort of technical books they might have. Saw an intro to computer hardware and architecture the other day from 1982. $9 is too much to be asking for something like that, when it’s not even in mint condition.
I usually offer my old tech books on craigslist. I can almost always get rid of them all that way..
Jason Fruit 10.21.09 at 06:55
When you say “technical books”, do you mean specifically computer-related, or technical in general? Because certainly the autodidact has a lot to gain from a book on aerodynamics from twenty years ago, or a fifty-year-old book on wooden building construction, even though they might be abandoned as school textbooks.
John 10.21.09 at 07:20
Jason, the books are were all related to computing. Engineering books hold their value better. They also retain their perceived value better.
There are two issues here. First, some computer books really are worthless after a few years. Second, some computer books are worth reading, but people presume they’re worthless because there are so many books in the first category.
Lori Mathhead 10.21.09 at 13:32
Sooooo, I guess I should recycle just recycle that Photoshop 7 book, huh? Duoh!
Gene 10.26.09 at 20:07
PHP 4 book: $0.50 value
Learning Perl: $0.50 value
Art of Computer Programming: Priceless!