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Old Textbooks

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many moons ago someone mention that they collected old textbooks and had a large collection. In the near future I am going to let go off my fathers ICS engineering textbooks, circa 1922 and would like to find them a good home.
These books are in very good shape with the exception of the cover and s line lettering. There are no marks on the pages as my father appreciated books and did nothing to damage the pages. I was told he completed the course in record time and I was also told he worked all the problems at the end of each chapter.
Again I would like to find them a good home as I don't have anyone that would appreciate them.
Would like to hear from anyone who might be interested.
 
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Might have been me, I seem to have a collection of old electrical texts, most of which are far better than the stuff available today.

Not wanting to display my ignorance but what are the ICS textbooks?



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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 
International Correspondence School. I have a few that my mentor gave me. I think that you may enjoy them Scotty.

Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
 
Adding to the above this is 10 hardbound textbooks that are for a Mechanical Engineering course. The ICS courses were very popular from around 1920 to 1960. ICS offered over 50 different courses covering all aspects of Engineering and Business. They gave out diplomas though nothing was accredited as it is today.

These courses started with the very basics and progressed into some resolving some mechanical problems graphically. These books are also profusely illustrated with line drawings and graphs.

If I recall correctly my father said he got $0.20 extra pay per day after he completed the course while working of Rust Engineering and Koppers Co.





 
I have tried to sell/donate/lend over 300 text books going back to 1904. Although I managed to get rid of about 100 of these the others sit here on a shelf in Australia. I was dismayed when young student engineers were not interested in the text books. Their idea was that all the information they would ever need was on the Internet.

Admittedly bodies such as ASME, IMechE and IEAust etc have virtual libraries and there is less need for hard books.

So in trying to donate books be mindful it may only be historians and museums who are interested. Also there are many more books than people interested in them.

"Sharing knowledge is the way to immortality"
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

 
That's really quite a sad state of affairs.

As I mentioned above the older books are frequently far better written than the modern ones. In many cases I find that doing things 'old school' requires a far greater understanding of the underlying principles than the modern ways where the intelligence is in an electronic 'black box'. The other thing which is apparent is that the standard of mathematics prevalent years ago was far higher than it is today.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 
"As I mentioned above the older books are frequently far better written than the modern ones"


Ditto to older vendor catalogues. The older catalogues actually had information in them rather than a lot of the current ones which seem to have gone over by the lawyers and purged of anything useful. When we moved offices a lot of our older stuff was purged, I went through and took home a lot of stuff that I wanted. Will anyone else want this in the future is another question.
 
Books, seems nobody wants them today. When preparing for my move to Thailand I had to put a full set of Brittanicas'in the recycle bin - the local school didn't want them, nor did the op.shops or anyone I knew. Very sad to part with them as I had bought them while still an apprentice many moons ago paying them off at few shillings a week - also in the same clean-up was 40+ years of accumulated info. on pumps including many text books etc - all in the recycle bin. Did keep Cameron's and my Pump Handbook by Igor J. Karassik et al.

Well it was all probably recycled into egg cartoons or something else useful.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)
 
Maybe a University with an engineering school (and engineering library) would like the textbooks.
It's a pity. If they get tossed in a landfill or incinerated, they're lost forever.
 
Universities have all gone electronic. Students dont even have to attend with You Tube lectures and distance learning.

Students love electronic books as they can cut and paste into assignments and get to the pub earlier.

"Sharing knowledge is the way to immortality"
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

 
Unclesyd,

Where are you located? I might be interested -- I have a grandson who occasionally expresses interests in being an engineer and who likes working through problems.

I can be reached by my first name, last name at the ubiquitous google mail.

Patricia Lougheed

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Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.
 
Anyone have any old building code books they'd like to part with? Particularly interested in Southern Building Code/Southern Standard Building Code/Standard Building Code (all various monikers in different eras)from early 1950's to mid-80's. I have a couple in the 70's and one from the 60's but would like to fill in.

Part technical interest, part forensic resource.
 
unclesyd

Had a senior moment -- it's my work account that is firstname.lastname. It is then NRC.gov.
google mail is initials and last name. Sorry.


Patricia Lougheed

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Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.
 
I have a copy of "Engineering Mechanics of Solids", Egor P Popov at home. It was given to me by a friend as he deserted the profession to become a lawyer. It's a lovely book that I have zero use for. Maybe I'll find a home for it one day.

- Steve
 
oops, "Engineering Mechanics of Materials"

- Steve
 
I would think that universities in many developing countries would like any references they could get their hands on - Laos, Cambodia, etc. I have many old texts and still trying to find more (geotechnically oriented). SRE has a lot of older data too.
 
The university in Papua New Guinea would ove books. However it is just as easy to email them. The freight costs are outrageous. Givernments would sooner provide aid to buy weapons that provide freight to PNG.

"Sharing knowledge is the way to immortality"
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

 
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