# What the Hell Kind of Person Throws Out Books?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 28, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270 "2004-07-28T13:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/61 "2004-07-29T06:53:42Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > I could be wrong, but the impression I got was that when the neighbors had left the books out the night before, they were _not_ ruined, but had been ruined during the night by some rain. So in other words, presumably the neighbors had left out perfectly good books. Then it rained in the middle of the night, which ruined the books—before someone like **Eve** could rescue them the next morning. Yeah, that could well be. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/62 "2004-07-29T12:28:55Z")
> [@Cerri](#): > > My dream is to someday have a big enough house that I’ll be able to have a room filled with nothing _but_ books, and maybe a comfy chair or two. Books, floor to ceiling, on every wall, covering every space… _sighs happily_ You too. I want my own personal library room! 🙂 My boyfriend thinks he has a lot of books because he has one bookcase, that isn’t even full. Heh heh heh. Silly man. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/63 "2004-07-29T13:07:40Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > You and me both. It’s just not registering. What can that combination of words mean? It seems somewhat gibberish-like to me . . . > > A puzzle. Heh, me too. I read that phrase three times to see how I was getting whooshed again. 😃 > [@whiterabbit](#): > > You too. I want my own personal library room! > > My boyfriend thinks he has a lot of books because he has one bookcase, that isn’t even full. Heh heh heh. Silly man. keep readin rabbit…you’ll get there. I got two different offices at home one for my wife… ☹ her sewing/craft/office which has a couple of hundred books and even more magazines in it. my office which has at least 300 or more on shelves on one full wall and around the room on shelves I built that are just above the doorways. Our bedroom has three sets of book cases full and both the kids bedrooms have at least two bookcases full. Our living room and den each have several sets of shelves and there are untold boxes of books in closets and elsewhere stashed around the place. Anybody need some books? My da’s got an antique/junk store with thousands of books, mostly OLD books. circa 1800’s etc. and a complete set of National Geographics. Man, let’s not even get into magazines. :smack: I’ll always have plenty of kindlin’ for the fireplace I guess. :eek: 😉 just kidding ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/64 "2004-07-29T13:09:29Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > Silly man. That’s pretty good comin from a rabbit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/65 "2004-07-29T13:25:08Z")
I give away nearly every book I read. Most go to relatives and friends that I expect will like them. Non-fiction books usually go to a local library (I know where to go to look up stuff). Until a few years ago I used to claim hundreds of dollars a year in tax deductions until I found out the donations to libraries weren’t claimable. Oh well. I can only recall twice leaving books on crowded trains because I couldn’t bear finishing the things and could not think of anyone who would read them. I assumed on a crowded train someone would grab a freebie “nearly new” book. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/66 "2004-07-29T16:26:43Z")
I like books a lot, and have what is, to me, and interesting collection. But really, people, get a grip. Throwing out books is not comparable to abandoning a pet. They are inanimate objects. Possessions. If they no longer have value to you, and you don’t know anyone else to whom they would have value, then throw them out! There is nothing sacred about books. They can be interesting, informative and/or entertaining, certainly. I know many people who are appalled when a library weeds their collection, but weeding is essential to keep a collection useful. If you don’t weed, it becomes more and more difficult for users to find the books they need, and ever more difficult and expensive for the libraries to store and maintain them. I approach my personal collection the same way. If I’m not going to use it again, I get rid of it. If the used bookstore doesn’t want what I’m weeding, then I don’t lose any sleep over throwing them out. I do recycle them, though. And yes, I realize I’m likely to be burned as a heretic around here for doing so. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/67 "2004-07-29T17:27:15Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > That’s pretty good comin from a rabbit. 😃 😃 One bookcase. _One_. And he hasn’t seen most of my books, since most of them are currently in storage because there’s nowhere to put them in the house. I can’t imagine owning so few books that one bookcase would contain them. I’ve known more than one person in that situation, but it doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve spent my last $30 on books when I knew the rent was paid and I had food to last the rest of the month. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/68 "2004-07-29T22:03:20Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > I’ve spent my last $30 on books when I knew the rent was paid and I had food to last the rest of the month. The rent I can understand, because you have to have a roof over your books, but you wasted money on _food_ before you bought books? ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/69 "2004-07-30T05:01:23Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > You too. I want my own personal library room! 🙂 > > My boyfriend thinks he has a lot of books because he has one bookcase, that isn’t even full. Heh heh heh. Silly man. That reminded me of the conversation I had with my best friend, the one who’s known me half my life and I thought practically knew me better than I know myself, before my recent move. Friend: So, what are you doing with all your stuff. Are you going to bother taking all your books? Me: Well, I’ll probably leave some of the textbooks behind (I was staying at my parents’ at that point), seeing as I haven’t touched them since I finished undergrad. Friend: No, I meant all the other books. Are you taking them? Me: (moment of stunned silence as I try to process this) Um, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?.. So, have you seen (some movie, can’t remember which) yet? To get on topic, I know intellectually that books are just inanimate objects, and that if I don’t want it any more and I can’t find anyone else who does either, I should just get rid of it (recycling, garbage, whatever). However, it just feels wrong to do so, which, combined with the constant stream of incoming new books, results in the book collection that caused my friend such concern. So I’m firmly on the side of you **never** throw out a book unless it’s irreparably damaged. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/70 "2004-07-30T06:38:17Z")
**mrklutz** , God bless you! The voice of reason struggles against the cries of the multitudes of the brainwashed. “Books, books, books. I love my books!,” they scream. "Don’t throw them out they’re… _BOOKS_! They are exempt from criticism or objective treatment because they’re… _BOOKS_! " Of please! The way people fetishize books makes me want to vomit. Why does any old crap that gets sandwiched between two cardboard covers get a free pass from the trash heap while tons of far more valuable items get tossed without blinking? I think most book hoarders should conduct a little self therapy and ask themselves why they take comfort in a store of inanimate object that in all likelyhood were never read, won’t be read again or are locked away in some inconvenient place. “It warms my heart just knowing they’re there – locked in that steamer chest in self-storage unit across town that I have not visited in six years,” they say. “Why?,” I say. Like **mrklutz** said, people, get a grip! ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/71 "2004-07-30T07:50:05Z")
**Eve** Let your fellow New Jerseyans know which particular neighborhood you’re talking about. We’ll scout the streets on garbage collection day and give all those poor orphans a good home. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/72 "2004-07-30T08:04:31Z")
I have two bookshelves at my flat, all full of paperbacks. When I moved out I took what I couldn’t bear to leave behind, and boxed the rest up. One day I’ll have to go through the boxes and donate most of them elsewhere - there’s nothing really classic worth hanging onto. Before I give them away I’ll have to read them all again though… My mum remembers coming back from Indonesia to find that, in her absence, her stepmum had moved all her books into the garage and they’d been ruined in a flood. That was thirty-odd years ago and she still looks mad when she talks about it. Last year Auckland Uni was clearing out one of its libraries and so held a book sale. Everything in the first two weeks was $2, and after two weeks, free. I picked up some fantastic politics textbooks, and spent all my avalible cash on some excelent NZ fiction and poetry. I love library sales. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/73 "2004-07-30T08:11:05Z")
> [@mrklutz](#): > > I like books a lot, and have what is, to me, and interesting collection. But really, people, get a grip. Throwing out books is not comparable to abandoning a pet. They are inanimate objects. Possessions. If they no longer have value to you, and you don’t know anyone else to whom they would have value, then throw them out! > > There is nothing sacred about books. They can be interesting, informative and/or entertaining, certainly. I know many people who are appalled when a library weeds their collection, but weeding is essential to keep a collection useful. If you don’t weed, it becomes more and more difficult for users to find the books they need, and ever more difficult and expensive for the libraries to store and maintain them. I approach my personal collection the same way. If I’m not going to use it again, I get rid of it. If the used bookstore doesn’t want what I’m weeding, then I don’t lose any sleep over throwing them out. > > I do recycle them, though. > > And yes, I realize I’m likely to be burned as a heretic around here for doing so. I’m not going to burn you as a heretic, but IMNSHO, the people here who’ve complained about libraries throwing out books weren’t complaining about routine weedings - rather they were talking about indiscriminate culling, and/or, destroying valuable or unique resources. And, even then, when most libraries ‘weed’ they place the books up for sale. 😃 I’ve got a number of former library books in my personal library - two good deeds in one! I support the library, and I get hardcovers of books that were published when I was too young to appreciate 'em. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/74 "2004-07-30T12:41:48Z")
I’m a hospital librarian. Guess what? I throw books out. At home and at work. Mainly at work because guess what? I buy very very very few books for personal reading and the books I buy for personal reading are non-fiction which I will read over and over. The public library has tons of fiction books for me to read and interlibrary loan exists to get me what the library doesn’t own. I throw out books at work because they contain outdated information. Information that is not current and that could be wrong and dangerous to patients. I’m not going to donate medical books to anyone that contain information that isn’t useful and potentially harmful. As a few people have said, particularly **mrklutz** , the majority of books are not sacred. There is absolutely nothing wrong with throwing them out. Yes, there are places that will accept donations and it would be nice to try to place unwanted books. But the world won’t end if unwanted books and magazines end up in the recycle bin or the trash. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/75 "2004-07-30T12:53:56Z")
> [@Ms Macphisto](#): > > Friend: So, what are you doing with all your stuff. Are you going to bother taking all your books? > Me: Well, I’ll probably leave some of the textbooks behind (I was staying at my parents’ at that point), seeing as I haven’t touched them since I finished undergrad. > Friend: No, I meant all the other books. Are you taking them? > Me: (moment of stunned silence as I try to process this) Um, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?.. So, have you seen (some movie, can’t remember which) yet? Maybe your friend was hoping you were going to get rid of your books, and would offer to take them off your hands. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/76 "2004-07-30T13:39:01Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > I think most book hoarders should conduct a little self therapy and ask themselves why they take comfort in a store of inanimate object that in all likelyhood were never read, won’t be read again or are locked away in some inconvenient place. “It warms my heart just knowing they’re there – locked in that steamer chest in self-storage unit across town that I have not visited in six years,” they say. “Why?,” I say. I think you will find most of us read our books over and over—I will pass my bookshelf, see my copy of _Hollywood Girl_ or _Philadelphia Then & Now_, and plunk myself down for a good read. Additionally—as has been said over and over here—books can be donated to schools, libraries, hospitals, nursing homes, used-book stores, sent as gifts to friends. Unless they are damaged (or, OK, romance novels), there is never an excuse to throwe out a book. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/77 "2004-07-30T14:30:06Z")
Anybody who has worked in a large chain bookshop will be familiar with the practice of ripping the front cover off hundreds of brand new books and sending them back to the publisher for pulping so that they do not end up on the shelves of evil libraries or those despicable pedlars of cheap knowledge - second hand booksellers. This thread seems to be the intellectual equivalent of asking “What the hell kind of person beheads chickens?” whilst having a freezer full of them. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/78 "2004-07-30T14:45:32Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > Anybody who has worked in a large chain bookshop will be familiar with the practice of ripping the front cover off hundreds of brand new books and sending them back to the publisher for pulping so that they do not end up on the shelves of evil libraries or those despicable pedlars of cheap knowledge - second hand booksellers. [faints dead away] ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/79 "2004-07-30T14:48:25Z")
_vigorously fans **Eve** with a cherished second hand book_ **Eve**? **Eve**? It wasn’t my fault! I thought people in Manhattan knew what capitalism looked like! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270/80 "2004-07-30T15:00:06Z")
For those of you who prefer buying books to food or to having $30 in your pocket, I offer the following: [Erasmus quote–bottom image]([http://www.cornwellscribeworks.com/gifts-clothes.htm#Tote](http://www.cornwellscribeworks.com/gifts-clothes.htm#Tote) Bags). Available in t-shirt, tote bag for hauling the books, or hand-gilded framable print! (Please know that I have no professional association with Cornwell Scribeworks, though they do live a few blocks away from my house.) I’m a librarian myself, so I just check out piles of books and only buy them on occasion. Which is a good thing, 'cause if I bought all the books I bring home, we’d be starving and bankrupt under a mountain of books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-person-throws-out-books/257270.md?page=5)