Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion

Anyone else collect textbooks? I have found myself buying more of them recently at University second-hand sales and online. They appeal to my love of learning but I do have moments of clarity when I wonder when on earth I will actually find the time to plough through tomes on constitutional law and so forth. I barely have the time I would like for fiction. Still can't see myself stopping though!

The fun ones are those from your parents generation or before. Particularly those from the social sciences.

Texts about 50 years old (or 50 yrs before ones own experience) are more entertaining. Old medical texts are interesting as to how much and how little has changed.

The textbooks or resource materials from when a topic is first introduced are fun to find. Some disciplines have evolved at a pace that in two or three editions, what was an entire chapter (or more), is reduced to a margin note.

Physical textbooks are disappearing. Who knows? They may become valuable!

CD wrote: "The fun ones are those from your parents generation or before. Particularly those from the social sciences.

Texts about 50 years old (or 50 yrs before ones own experience) are more entertaining. ..."

Are they? It makes sense given the expense, but when I went to university not so long ago it was entirely textbook based. Has the internet superseded?

Jackson wrote: "CD wrote: "The fun ones are those from your parents generation or before. Particularly those from the social sciences.

Texts about 50 years old (or 50 yrs before ones own experience) are more ent..."

In the US an increasing number of schools make all their information available either online or via media of some type other than the traditional bound paper book. For 15+ years this has been increasing and the requirement to have a notebook/laptop is approaching universal. Distance learning is becoming omnipresent and that is often built on selections that are available from the school websites.

It seems from my most recent foray into a 'college bookstore' that all the texts had CD/DVD's that were what the instructor/professor really needed for the students to have, but in some case the physical book was 'included'.

In the US midwest where I reside, the large state institutions find even ordering the number of textbooks needed to be overwhelming when they can be purchased virtually or just shipped from Amazon if really needed.

Disciplines including various engineering fields the texts are traditionally kept as reference . . . I don't think this is very necessary now as all the references ever needed can be found updated, corrected and expanded by just asking you phone for the info.

Real books certainly haven't disappeared at all, but so many of the texts are being upgraded and expanded, even during the course of the class. The reading selections are so often texted/emailed to the students that a physical text is almost pointless other than a large note taking platform if one's laptop batteries go down, the smartphone is inoperative and your not sharing the class with anyone you know.

Different world compared to the last century when I was on the other side of academia.

I have a few Literature study books because I find them interesting.

Speaking of that, I keep meaning to get back into them

I never thought of myself as a collector of textbooks, but I refuse to get rid of the ones I have. With each new course I complete, I just add the textbook(s) to my bookshelf. My oldest daughter actually skims through them periodically and has used a few for her school work.

Daniel wrote: "I never thought of myself as a collector of textbooks, but I refuse to get rid of the ones I have."

Same here. I haven't bought more, but I still have all my college textbooks.