Old textbooks?

Re: Old textbooks?

• hellosweetie1015 member

  

  January 2015

  Honestly, textbooks are about the only books I *will* actually discard. If they're severely out of date, they aren't always useful to have. I mean, history books aren't likely to change, but a science book can be out of date by the time it hits shelves. Where a novel or a cookbook or something doesn't necessarily lose its value as a cultural slice of its time period, textbooks aren't really cool until they're 100 years out of date and our grandkids can look at them and laugh about all the stupid shit we were taught in school.

  
  

  I definitely get the desire to do something with them. But unless you want to be crafty with them and make invisible shelves or something (which I have considered with cooler textbooks before), it's hard to do anything useful with them.

  

  
  

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• chibiyui member

  

  January 2015

  I think unless you have some DIY projects in mind, recycling is the best route for them.
  
  Textbooks when they're outdated really don't have any use. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

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• ohannabelle member

  

  January 2015

  Craft time. They're worth the paper they're printed on. 

  My algebra book became a decorative Halloween spell book. I can honestly say that is the only time in my adult life that  anything from that class was useful to me.

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• larrygaga member

  

  January 2015

  I recently used mine to flatten some paper I was crafting with.

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• doeydo member

  

  January 2015

  Mine aren't that old, and if there are ones I know I will never look at once the course I had them for is over, I sell them online.  Other than that I hoard them in this pile of mine.  Eventually, if I want to get rid of them, I guess I'd drop them off at a second hand store or something.

  
  

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• Wegl13 member

  

  January 2015

  If you live around a decent sized college, check with their associated bookstores. Ours would have a place where you could donate textbooks and they'd give you a dollar. I think they were sent to very impoverished parts of the world where even an out of date book has some value.

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• wandajune6 member

  

  January 2015

  It's good to know that I'm not missing any obvious ways of getting rid of them.
  
  Crafting is an interesting idea that somehow never occurred to me. I keep trying to come up with excuses to make more paper flowers. Perhaps that's my reason!
  

  

  

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• buttercup1958

  

  January 2015

  Honestly I always resale my old textbooks. But they aren't out of date like yours. I never buy textbooks from a college book store. I use Amazon. I think you should recycle.

  

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• AddieCake member

  

  January 2015

  Sold them for beer money while in college. Recycled the ones they wouldn't take back. Kept all my English ones.

  What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14

  

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• Kahlyla member

  

  January 2015

  You might be able to donate them:
  
  http://www.booksforafrica.org/
  
  "Book Donation Requirements

  If you mail books, please do not send boxes that weight more than 50 pounds and do not include any non-recyclable packing materials such as plastic wrap or peanuts. Thank you!

  Books For Africa accepts:

  • 15 years old or newer popular fiction and nonfiction reading books (soft and hard cover).
  • 1998 or newer publish date primary, secondary, and college textbooks (soft and hard cover).
  • 2003 or newer reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries.
  • 1998 or newer publish date medical, nursing, IT, and law books.
  • Bibles are sent when requested by African recipients. We will accept Bibles or religious books, please place them in a box separate from other donations and mark the box as “Religious texts.”
  • School/office supplies—paper, pencils, pens, wall charts, maps, etc.

  Acceptable books are gently used and relevant to an African reader.

  Books For Africa does NOT accept:

  • Magazines or journals of any kind, including academic journals.
  • Home decorating or wedding books.
  • Cookbooks.
  • Ethnocentric books, such as the biography of Abraham Lincoln or the history of Ohio.
  • Foreign language books except for French books. French novels and dictionaries are welcome.
  • American history or civics.
  • Music books for K–12.
  • Murder mysteries or anything with “kill,” “die,” “murder,” etc. in the title."

  Crafting with or upcycling a few of them would be cool, too.
  

  

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• wandajune6 member

  

  January 2015

  @kahlyla- thanks for the recommendation! I'm looking into Books for Africa now!
  
  If that doesn't work, I see a pile of books going to the recycling bin or craft projects.
  

  

  

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