Anybody Still Read Textbooks?
erco
Posts: 20,256
I've won several new textbooks for $1-$10 (Radio Shack clearance prices!) in the past week from the Ebay seller below. Working on Mars, How to Catch a Robot Rat, Computing: A Concise History, & Autonomous Robots . Very few bidders, I suppose the world has gone mad for E-books instead of hardbacks. Have a peek if you like old school books, and toss out a lowball bid or two.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/northmix11/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
http://www.ebay.com/sch/northmix11/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ4lDJs8skg
C.W.
Perhaps ironically I am just now reading "9 Algorithms That Changed The Future" by John MacCormick, the dead tree edition.
I LIKE that !
Actually I wrote that scene. It was based on my first trip to Los Angeles many years ago. The only difference between that scene and my own experiences is that I never got to see any books.
With the advent of the personal computers, we seem to have gotten an awful lot of stuff written that is not rigorous enough to be truly educational. And another trend is to provide a 600-700 page tome, when the reality is a good read for most audiences is 250 pages.
Items are rushed to publication to exploit the latest buzz or fad, and a lot of information seems to be just recycled rather than thoughtfully put together to help the learner. Good writers are thoughtful and helpful, not mechanically commenting their way through exhaustive outlines.
I still enjoy the Schwams Outlines as they are excellent and timeless 'textbooks'. I really liked the ARRL Handbooks in the late 1960s and early 1970s as they offered an excellent introduction to electronics.
But somewhere and somehow, the truly classic introduction to both analog and digital electronics seems to never been written was a good presentation of the pros and cons of each.
And as we put more and more circuitry into small chunks of silicon, the manufacturers want to hide the applied fundamentals and just sell the whole package. Books on electronics these days tend to focus on presenting one manufacturer's product line.
Sure you can get one book on analog electronics and one on digital electronics, but no one seems brave enough to write a book that covers both in an introductory and informative fashion.
I guess it was just easier to study electronics in the 1960s.. maybe easier to study anything. These days, everyone want to download a quick tutorial. (I grow weary of that word -- tutorial.)
Not only are titles better, often the international shipping in more reasonable. This is the best I can do on a replacement for a public libary in English.
Amazon is there for the non-thinker to buy on impulse. You can have the same text for $11.82 in very good condition....$4.37 in fair condition including shipping in US. and one for $2.50 in good.
I just might buy that $2.50 copy, plus shipping to Taiwan.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Taub+Herbert&sts=t&x=41&y=8
Rest I'm my reading I download from various sites.
I don't keep books as much as I used to. I try to buy cheap and used. If it turns out I don't really like a book after I get it, I'll get rid of it on eBay.
My own dilemma is that every year more and more is translated into Chinese and less is being sold locally in English.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/01/could-you-own-one-copy-of-every-book-ever-published-this-guy-is-trying/
This place has some good deals on old books. You can get books as low as $4, which includes free shipping. It might take a couple weeks to get the book because it comes via media mail, but it's a great way to rescue obscure books on things you might be interested in.
http://www.betterworldbooks.com
Then again, a good book requires no batteries and allows you to sensual flip through the pages (only recently replicated by the iPad).
And a good library adds a nice layer of insulation from noise, heat, and cold to the room. The literature I cherish is in physical text. The technical blah blah blah is finally all in pdfs.
There was a time that I wasted a lot of pager and printer ink on printing pdgs.. but that clutter has dwindled.
And there are times when it is obvious that both a book and a computer really make an efficent set up to get something done productively.
I have always enjoyed collecting books and tools, and not much else.
I agree. But some people need to use good buzz words in their titles
Ya, I hate to think.
Isn't it amazing how academics and librarians hate Wikipedia? Librarians are killing it with academic criteria, but at the same time will tell you that any encyclopedia is a starting point for learning and not a peer reviewed end point. Why burden any encyclopedia that way? Fodder for a great librarian relevance conspiracy theory
Same here. Curling up on a comfy chair with a good paper book and a drink at your side is great once in a while, but having all your technical books, magazines, schematics, and other information available all the time is even better.
John Abshier
Too many blondes for my tastes.
@loopy, all my woodworking, photography, glasswork, boatbuilding, etc., books are in book form my electronics and computer books tend to be in ebook format. Any rare opportunity I have to read fiction calls for a trip to the library for either an audio book or a printed book.