# RE: Book problem

Why not dontate those books to your local library? I mean how many people that visit the library are actually going to read those books? Not many. And it means that if you want to get that information again you simply get it out of the library. It also means that you can share that knowledge with the world and with some poor kid that wants to get started in this industry but cannot afford to buy all the books.

I do this whenever possible and find out that sometimes the very people I work with started by reading the books I donated to the local library. You never know who will be reading those books. Remember it was someone who fostered Bill Gates curiosity in computers that got him started and that worked out great. Who knows you may get the next Bill Gates interested in one area that he/she will revolutionize and make our lives just that much better.

My 2 Cents.

# re: Book problem

Richard: That is a great idea! I for some reason never thought about that. That is better than hiding them away in boxes somewhere.

# re: Book problem

Jason,

I donate mine to a local public library. Oftentimes, libraries don't have the funds to purchase or acquire the latest techology books, so my donations help out quite nicely. It's not tax deductible or anything, but I feel that I help out those who can't afford the books but want to venture into the world of software development.

As a matter of fact, I'm heading to the library right now to donate a garbage bag full of technical books!

# re: Book problem

dont think you have halfpricebooks.com stores in Boston? i've sold to them once, but it is kind of annoying to get ~$2.50 for a book for a book you paid $40+ for, and then you can see them turn around and sell it for $20. after that mistake, i've been doing the same as above ... library donation. the plus side is that it makes me feel better than $2.50 does too :) the other thing i've done is brought them into the company where i was working ... and started a small company library. having odd books around for that random time i have to do javascript always comes in handy

# re: Book problem

weird, I thought I had left this comment already? Man, I guess I'm still jet lagged?

Anyway, you can deduct your library donations from your taxes too. Not the full value, but there are ways to determine a fair value for the books.

# re: Book problem

Scott: Thanks for the tip. I'm might look into the possible deduction, but I probably will just end up donating them and not get to the deduction stuff.

Now the only problem is determining which ones to let go of... maybe if I haven't opened it in the last year or two? (basically pre-.net) Probably will keep some of the O'Reilly books for references, then again if I haven't used it in the last couple of years I probably won't use it again...

# re: Book problem

Hey Jason,
I would make good use of them! If you still have them mabe we could make a deal!
Let me know!

Thanks,
Bruno