Metal Working Technology Transfer - Dearth of Used Books

[Rex]

I've quit looking for such books a year or so ago, but I had no problem finding them. Best source was the annual "Friends of the Library" book sale. Hardbacks were 25 cents. Machining textbooks were plentiful, so I got one of each. I probably have 10 different actual textbooks, plus some Audels and various others.
I even got a couple of mint Hollanders interchange manuals. You car guys know what those are worth. $.25 each.
Used bookstores off the beaten path seemed real good also. Passing through a small town I'd always stop at the used bookstores for a quick look. Almost always found something useful.

[MaxHeadRoom]

With a day to myself, I visited some local bookshops yesterday
in search of technical books related to the metal trades. It
was not a productive outing.

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I usually check out Abe Books, they are world wide clearing house for used books.
I recently got a box of 5 books on Autocad for ~$20.00.
It may be worth a look.
Max.

[John Stevenson]

I still go to Detroit every year or so, but I always leave depressed.

Greg

I feel the same way with London, to be honest I'm rather ashamed at the city seeing as it's our capital.

It's got so as it's the melting pot of the world, good game to play is spot the Englishman

A visor comes to London, flies in and when he come to move on if he travels by train all the car breakers yards are located on old sidings that back up onto the railway so all a visitor to England sees are these breakers yards, crappy industrial low rent units all the way.

Those green fields you see in the British rail advert are just a 3 mile stretch in the Derbyshire peak district before it drops down into coal tips of the past industrial North.

Sorry am I putting anyone off from visiting ?

Plus side is you can still buy a Bridgy for under £600

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bridgeport-Drill-Milling-Machine-not-Lathe-/220862416311

[PTSideshow]

used.addall.com
This site will search and compare prices with sites in a number of countries Most of the ones that have been listed you can choose which ones you want to search.

[loose nut]

I still go to Detroit every year or so, but I always leave depressed.

Greg

You think your depressed, what about all the people that can't leave. They must be damned near suicidal.

For those that haven't had the pleasure of going there, old downtown Detroit is scarey, the "burbs are fine, some are very nice.

[loose nut]

typical English village nothing changed for centuries, even have the old style parking meters.
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The kind that you tied your horse to?

[ironnut]

bookfinder.com

My wife has had good success using bookfinder.com to search for titles that she is interested in. She found the Connely tome Machine Tool Reconditioning for me and someday I will give it a thorough read. She also said that it includes the alibris.com stores.

gordon

[Krunch]

I buy nearly all my books through a used-book "clearinghouse" website called alibris.com which, in turn, deals with dozens of third-party vendors ... almost like an ebay exclusively for books.

I have been buying books through them for several years now, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. I have probably bought 30 to 50 titles through them, and I have only been dissatisfied once ... and the seller made it right with me (apparently they made an honest, unintentional mistake in describing the book).

Shipping is always $3.99 per book (unless you buy multiple books from the same book seller, in which case you get a discount).

They just about always have "coupon discount promos" going on, and if nothing else, you can generally get at least $1 off. In several instances, I have found used books offered for 99¢ ... applied the $1.00 off coupon ... and basically bought the book for the $3.99 shipping fee.

Most of the books are priced pennies on the dollar. It's rare to find a title that you can't find a copy of. Highly recommended.

I should also note that I have no financial connection (or any other, except being a customer) to them.

alibris.com

[Greg Q]

I will observe that I started woodworking 30 years ago because I wanted attractive yet affordable bookshelves; I had and still do have a wide-eyed astonishment that the incredible riches of knowledge are almost free. Now I have the additional astonishment that on top of being cheap, most people find printed knowledge worthless.

Greg

[John Stevenson]

In the UK there is a village called Hay on Wye close to the Welsh border, typical English village nothing changed for centuries, even have the old style parking meters.

This village advertised itself as the biggest second hand book shop in the world, probably correct as it holds about 30 book shops. Some are small single rooms in cottages and others like the converted cinema, church and yes an genuine English castle have just under a million each.

Now I collect old engineering books, have done for years and we used to make an annual pilgrimage to Hay every year for 2 days, you cannot do the village in one day.
First couple of years were ace, loads of quite rare goodies for not much money as the sellers think they are worthless.

However once the cream got skimmed off the top subsequent visits came up with nothing new. Last trip was about 18 months ago and we won't be going back because all that's left are the same books we saw 12 years ago but now at inflated prices.

Last trip I bought one book, "The history of Asprin" believe it or not quite interesting, trip before that two book on Rolls Royce engines.

In the early days we used to take the Donald down because we were frightened of overloading the car.

It's not just book dealers who have no clue, even the trade is guilty. One of the local gear cutting companies had a small office in the corners with overloaded shelves on gear machines that had been scrapped pre WWII. I asked to buy some and the foreman said no need, he'd sort them and give them to me.
This went on for about 5 years and one day called in, lace is al clean, office all tidy, no shelves. Asked for the foreman and a young guy came up, I asked after the old guy and the books and he'd retired and they had trashed everything.

I have stopped collecting now as I have too many and in truth many just repeat what others do, there are only so many ways to drill a hole We have boxes of books stored that have never been opened from buying them.

Earlier this year we sorted out a large stack of books, mainly fiction and odd books from where ever. We put these onto a standard pallet and they stacked 4' hight and they went onto Ebay and made something like £25. Just glad to be rid of them.
This winter I reckon we can clear out another two pallets of general books as opposed to collectables.

[bob ward]

Its all to do with the preferences of the book buying public. 1 in 2 will buy a cook book, 1 in 10 will buy a Mills & Boon, 1 in 2000 will buy a machining book. I don't like it either, but thats just the way it is.

[EddyCurr]

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[EddyCurr]

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[EddyCurr]

J Tiers, PTSideshow and RussZHC post remarks about the 'business' that
perhaps cut to the core of the problem.

A while ago, I questioned a neighborhood bookseller with a varied selection
of subjects why he had nothing about machining - not a word of a lie, he
replied "why would anyone want to read about that?"

On my outing the other day, a shop owner told me they do not take texts
because of the high probablitity these are marked up with underlining
and highlighting. The shop caters to a higher end clientel and 50% of
sales comes from internet/distant customers so they do everything with
a view to maintaining a reputation for quality goods.

One scenario that hasn't been mentioned but which I do not think is
completely out of the question is that well-meaning agencies may have
gathered such resources for furtherence to third world countries in
the midst of their own industrial revolutions ...

As it happens, I am fortunate to already have the beginnings of a modest
collection of technology-related publications. A sampling of which
appears below:

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[EddyCurr]

Have you checked out the said technical institute, it probably has a bookstore
on campus. If so, they may well stock used books that are required for the
various courses.

Yes, I am an alumnus of courses offered through their ConEd dept. These
courses use selected modules drawn from the full set of printed materials
prepared for the four year apprenticeship programs.

The printed materials are compiled by the Apprenticeship and Industry
Training department within the provincial ministry of Advanced Education
and Technology.

Some examples

There are some barriers that make it difficult for the man on the street to get
these materials. The bookstore requires proof of enrollment in a related
program before agreeing to sell the materials. (This is provided they even
have stock on hand, I have taken classes where materials have not been
available for the majority of the program's duration.) Those not enrolled
in a course can special order the materials, but delivery is 6-8 weeks.

If you don't mind books from an earlier age, then the Internet Archive has
large numbers of out of copy-write metalworking books. http://www.archive.org/ .

Thank you for the link. There is both a Sony Reader Touch and an iPad for
ebooks in the household. I have followed earlier threads at HSM with links
to various digital versions of out-of-print books.

eBooks have their strengths. Real books in the hand are still more satisfying
to me.

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