# Have you ever used your college textbooks after college? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663 "2010-06-10T15:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/21 "2010-06-10T17:36:36Z")
Right. Like I am ever going to open “Middle English Verse Romances” again in this lifetime. Or the one my prof wrote on literary criticism. (We couldn’t sell that one back, either. Hmmm.) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/22 "2010-06-10T17:55:31Z")
I use my Legal Drafting textbooks now and then. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/23 "2010-06-10T17:58:29Z")
I have used the key in my Entomology book quite often since graduating. I kept a Microbiology book that I have opened once since then. I also have a general ed Biology book that I refer to when talking to friends who don’t know much about the subject. Those are the only three books I kept and I kept them specifically because I thought I would use them. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/24 "2010-06-10T18:23:16Z")
Mech engineer here. Like **Jeep’s Phoenix,** I kept a number of my core curricula books: thermo, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, metallurgy, machine design, etc. In my day job I use them on a fairly regular basis. Turning to these books for equations and material property values is often faster than the internet: if I need the viscosity of 5W-30 oil at 100C, I know which textbook has that table in it (and where), but if I Google it, I have to browse through search results, find a page that has a table or plot, and then hope that the information I find there is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/25 "2010-06-10T18:45:50Z")
I am constantly using the journalism and photography books I bought decades ago in college. I occasionally have to threaten my reporters to get them back. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/26 "2010-06-10T18:50:27Z")
Urban planner here. Many of the books we were assigned were professional reference books, and they still come in handy. Most planners have a good-sized reference library, both personal and at work. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/27 "2010-06-10T18:57:57Z")
I keep some language and literature books, mainly because I like to read the material in those books (the stories, the poems)… I do keep some of the medical and science textbooks because I still use them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/28 "2010-06-10T19:39:55Z")
The only one of my psychology books that was fun to read, I have reread several times. All the others: never in twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/29 "2010-06-10T19:44:02Z")
I’m an engineering student, and I’m saving all of my major textbooks. At several of the internships I’ve done, the vast majority of the full-time employees stocked their cubicles/offices with their old textbooks. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/30 "2010-06-10T20:18:07Z")
For the most part, no. I have a handful of (math) books that are excellent references, and I’ve replaced some of the others with better references. I have yet to find any internet resource that matches the breadth and depth of the best textbooks. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/31 "2010-06-10T21:12:19Z")
I kept a few of the books from my first degree, and have never looked at them since. I have a year to go on a degree in mechanical engineering, and I either borrow books from friends or the library, buy old editions for $2 on Amazon, or do without (the Internet is a wonderful place!). I have only bought a couple of books this time around, and I don’t really think I’ll be referring to them too often in the future, and if I find I need to, then I can buy them cheaply later on. Textbooks are a scam. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/32 "2010-06-10T23:03:19Z")
I’ve kept a lot of my textbooks and occasionally reread them. Most obviously, I had about 20 books I read for a science fiction course, including some real classics. For actual texts, some of the history books are still good reading. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/33 "2010-06-10T23:47:41Z")
On occasion, yes. They’re handy for citations, to look up random factoids my mind is blanking on and some of my texts were/are taxonomic manuals that are always useful for ID’s. However I was a biology ( natural history and systematics)/history major. I can see texts in other fields being less useful over time. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/34 "2010-06-11T00:49:04Z")
The ones I still use today involve math or statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/35 "2010-06-11T01:05:07Z")
I occasionally consult some of my actuarial textbooks, mostly to confirm fomulae that I once knew off by heart. I have also looked at my law textbooks a few times, for case references. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/36 "2010-06-11T02:21:00Z")
They look great in my office. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/37 "2010-06-11T02:42:14Z")
I only have one, it is a political science book on comparative world politics from 1987. I’ve read it from time to time. Very interesting with the discussions of first, second, and third world political systems. Of course, it is horribly dated. I think I still might have some of my mother’s literature textbooks. Of course, they’re just anthologies of world literature, so they don’t get dated. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/38 "2010-06-11T07:29:23Z")
I still keep my books on AI and software engineering. The latter because it’s useful for my job even now, the former is because I never could understand a single thing about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/39 "2010-06-11T10:32:06Z")
The textbooks, not so much, but the classnotes yes, specially the ones from my Stats class. Note that I only had printed books for a few classes (many Spanish universities, including mine, don’t even have a bookstore). ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663/40 "2010-06-11T13:34:38Z")
Biology major who has been working in environmental public health since graduating. I frequently refer to botany, microbiology and parasitology. Also have several textbooks from my days in civil engineering and they never see any use, but they look impressive in the bookcase in the living room. (Calculus, physics, hydrology, statics, soil mechanics) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-your-college-textbooks-after-college/542663.md?page=3)