it’s time
When we moved into the house I threw up some shelves and piled books on them, paying a little attention to author but little else.
The books in question number about 2000, and consist, in decreasing order of quantity,
Technical manuals. Mostly Fanuc, some Mitsubishi, some robotic and some CNC. SOme old enough that the line between CNC and robot was blurry. Back when I was a whelp, so to speak.
Ancient techincal manuals. THe Babcock and Wilcox book “Steam”. What was- and may still be the primer of coal and gas fired steam generation for several generations. Applied Thermodynamics. Thermodynamics of the Steam Engine. Dieter’s Mechanical Metallurgy. Manns “bullet’s flight”. A lot of engineering tomes of the turn of the last century.
Science Fiction. A lot of those, probably 400. About 1/4 hardcover. Some signed, a few first editions.
It’s time. I’m going to organize and catalog these bastards if it kills me.
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*gasp*
2000!
TWO THOUSAND!!
I have book envy!!!!
There’s a LOT more than that that have never been uncrated.
I left about half of my books when we moved out of Alaska in 1988. (Otherwise, we would have needed TWO moving vans.) Now I look at my tiny collection (500 or so), still crated up from the LAST move, and wonder if any of them will ever even be opened again. (Sigh) so many books, so little time…
Alas, I have only about 400 of my previous collection.
I have found ‘Library Thing’ to be a useful tool in organizing and cataloging my meager collection.
Both “Library Thing” and “Shelfari” are good for cataloging books.
Steam tables? Engineering textbooks? Science Fiction?
And crapblogging, to boot.
Are you sure we’re not related?
Any need signed?
at least one dick.
My Dad died some years back and my Mom continually encourages family to take any of his stuff they want before her inevitable demise creates chaos. A while back I grabbed a 35th edition of the Babcock & Wilcox Steam book; the inside cover has my grandfather’s signature and the date Oct.6, 1923. I also picked up a Wiley book: Steam Power by Hirschfeld and Ulbricht, again with my grandfather’s name and a date of 1920. He worked for Carolina Power and Light in NC at the time.
There is an enormous amount of information in these books. Of course, the latter book has a terrific pictorial diagram of heat losses in a steam plant; it appears 10% or less of the input energy does useful work with reciprocating machinery & coal fired boilers. Much has been learned since, and modern plants are much more efficient. Nevertheless, its interesting to see where we’ve come from.
I have all my dad’s books boxed up.
You’re throwing some familiar titles around, though.
I love those books. “steam” and “the bullet’s flight” are the equivalent of the literary bible and shakespeare.
Elisson, we may be brothers from a different mother but we are homeboys in the thundermug.
I’m having similar thoughts, what with the completion of the Great Study Project approaching.
And I’ve been eyeing the Library Thing since I saw it at Brigid’s.
As Toni says, the lifetime membership fee seems cheap at twice the price.
M