Throwing away Old Books and Magazines..Oh No!!

[starguard]

This is something that has irked me for years. Every since I was a child I was ALWAYS encouraged to keep any books that I had. Books to me were like Linus to his Blanket. Throwing away good books "regardless of the age and contents" was a cardinal sin during my youth.

Now that I am grown, I have a complete library of books in my living room ranging anywhere from Romance Novels to Auto-repair, to Repairing Analog Television and early model computers. Many of these books are so old and obsolete that they really serve no other puropse than to take up space and collect dust, but for some reason I simply cant find it within myself to part with them.

Even in my college days I was always afraid that if I ever got rid of any one of my books, one day I would need it as a reference and the information in it would be out of my reach forever. I don't know if this can be catagorized as some type of phobia or illness, but I have a whole room full of old outdated books that I can't seem to gather the strength to part with.

I even have a box filled with old "Omni" Magazines from the 1980's, as well as a set of old encyclopedias I got from my Dad many year ago that reads "who knows, with todays technology advancing at the rate that it is, one day we may even find a way to send a man to the moon"

I want to get rid of them, but at the same time, the very though of it is enough to make my skin crawl!

 

[Mirah]

You will feel so much better when you get rid of crap that you do not need.

 

[Cassie]

If the books are in good condition you could donate them. I don't know what to tell you about the magazines, if they're not collectible maybe you should recycle them.

 

['Gear]

This is something that has irked me for years. Every since I was a child I was ALWAYS encouraged to keep any books that I had. Books to me were like Linus to his Blanket. Throwing away good books "regardless of the age and contents" was a cardinal sin during my youth.

Now that I am grown, I have a complete library of books in my living room ranging anywhere from Romance Novels to Auto-repair, to Repairing Analog Television and early model computers. Many of these books are so old and obsolete that they really serve no other puropse than to take up space and collect dust, but for some reason I simply cant find it within myself to part with them.

Even in my college days I was always afraid that if I ever got rid of any one of my books, one day I would need it as a reference and the information in it would be out of my reach forever. I don't know if this can be catagorized as some type of phobia or illness, but I have a whole room full of old outdated books that I can't seem to gather the strength to part with.

I even have a box filled with old "Omni" Magazines from the 1980's, as well as a set of old encyclopedias I got from my Dad many year ago that reads "who knows, with todays technology advancing at the rate that it is, one day we may even find a way to send a man to the moon"

I want to get rid of them, but at the same time, the very though of it is enough to make my skin crawl!

I'll take those Omni magazines off your hands.

 

[VITRIOL]

I'll take those Omni magazines off your hands.

I have a box of old Omni magazines I've been meaning to look through.
Might be fun to see how many of yesteryears' "next big things" actually were important after all.

 

[starguard]

I even have a book by John Macintyre called "The Basic Fundamentals of the 8085 Microprocessor" with whopping 8-bit Registers and the amazing capacity of 256 Kilo-bytes of Memory!


Woooooooow

 

['Gear]

I have a box of old Omni magazines I've been meaning to look through.
Might be fun to see how many of yesteryears' "next big things" actually were important after all.

We're about the same age right? Remember when that magazine was cutting edge?

 

[VITRIOL]

We're about the same age right? Remember when that magazine was cutting edge?

Absolutely... it's why I liked it so much.

 

[starguard]

I've got a whole bunch of those old OMNI magazines. They are all boxed away. I also have a ton of old Discover and Heavy Metal Magazines as well.

Why do I still have them? Who knows.

 

[Blindgroping]

Heavy Metal?

 

[ThatSunrise]

I also felt like you feel about throwing stuff away, generally old school stuff that I worried I might need again one day. A few times keeping stuff paid off but usually it's sitting there being useless.

I'd go through it and in terms of sentimental attachment rank them from 1 to 3, toss the least, and then compare the two remaining categories. I'd also look for stuff that may be worth something, and look around for museums or archives that may want some of the things you're tossing.

 

[starguard]

Heavy Metal?

This is only an example. The ones I have are much older than this

 

[Starship Coyote]

I've got a bunch of old OMNI mags from 1980 onward as well.

What is it about that magazine?

But, yeah... throwing away books is kind of a sin with me too.

 

[Donovan]

OMNI was the bomb back in the day. I remember when they announced they were going strictly online due to magazine industry woes. Sad day...Discover is good but doesn't quite pack the same punch. Smithsonian isn't bad, Science, and of course Nat'l Geo is still the King, bless 'em. I usually order a magazine a year, one at a time, then let it lapse and pick another one. I think Natl Geo is due at the top of the rotation...

 

[Donovan]

Oh yeah: encyclopedias don't have a lot of resale value, but if you save them long enough certain years become valuable, especially when big events happened. I have a hundred year old kid's textbook of american history that calls the assassination of McKinley a disaster "which will remain infamous throughout history."

LOL Shows what they know...now people don't even remember he was president, let alone that he got killed.

 

[Donovan]

Sell the Heavy Metals on craigslist or ebay. They're worth a lot to collectors, esp now that Frazetta's dead.

 

[Consumer]

Heavy Metal IS collectible, I've got a bunch but I'm keeping 'em.

Omni was cool too, but not collectible.

There are about 15 books on my "I re-read these regularly" list. Beyond that I try to sell anything that I haven't read in about 5 years, the Used Book Store is your friend (but a dangerous one, I've brought in 10 books and left with 15).

Sadly, the encyclopedias are probably only going to go to the pulp mill.

As for anything you sell but need later, your Library can help! People grossly under-use libraries, IMHO.

 

[jack]

This is only an example. The ones I have are much older than this

I have all the metals, and the first 32 french editions pre metal (metal hurlant) Lotsa fun I also have the 1st 200 High Times, which these days are revelatory.

 

[jack]

Sell the Heavy Metals on craigslist or ebay. They're worth a lot to collectors, esp now that Frazetta's dead.

I have some of Frazettas real early comics with Williamson. White Indian and stuff like that too. There are some things I'll never get rid of.

 

[Donovan]

Don't blame you, my family had a bunch of his graphic collections, I wish I still had those.

Frazetta was the yardstick by which all other fantasy artists measured themselves. I heard an interview with Boris Vallejo where he raved on the guy...