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I have tons of books, I am a big time history buff especially when it comes to ancient Egypt, the western Roman Empire, the American Civil War and WW2.
I don't read them anymore and they just take up space but what do I do with Allen H. Gardiner's "Egyptian Grammar" that I purchased at the Stanford University bookstore because I wanted to learn how to translate 18th dynasty hieroglyphics? Then there's Edward Gibben's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Big time history nut I was always aced history classes.
Today they are near worthless, I don't read them anymore and if I want to it is easier to do it on screen where I can blow up the size.
But I got book cases that take up space that would be far better suited... my wife could store her crochet stuff instead of my books.
I know, I am 70, will never read them again and I know my kids and grandkids will never have anything to do with them but still... tossing them out is hard.
This discussion about whether to transport a decades-old, out-of-date, set of encyclopedias to a new home (LOL) reminded me of this video of teens seeing and trying to use one.
I have a 36 volume Britannica Encyclopedia (thank you Jiminy Cricket I know how to spell that) which I acquired (very cheap, brand new) about 10 years ago. I pick a volume at random and park it on my nightstand where it get perused until I'm ready to shut the light and go to sleep. I have a summer & winter home, so I take a few volumes with me (chosen at random) so I surely will have something to read. I'm not into novels & stuff but will spend hours going through an encyclopedia page by page. They are well written and there is always something new & interesting to read.
I've kept most of my other books too, but rarely read them a second or third time, except for a few that are of hobby interest. In any event, they fill up empty book shelves until I decide to donate them.
What criteria did you use when deciding which books to take with you to you moved to your retirement home, or when you decided that it was time to seriously 'downsize' and/or get rid of excess "stuff"? And are you happy with your decision?
What I have done up to now is to "collect" books for a while and then, about every three years or so, I donate the ones I know I won't read again, but now I am hesitating about the 50 or so books that I haven't read in at least ten years, but that I enjoyed very much the last time I read them. (Most of these I have read at least three times.) My husband has about the same number of books I do, plus we have also collected about 50 or so cookbooks that we now very seldom use, thanks to the Internet. plus we also have a set of encyclopedias published in the early 80's that I think might come in useful if the Internet ever goes down for a long time, so we are looking at possibly moving about 200 books altogether. This is a long distance move, so I don't want to take any books that we probably will never read again.
(But, please, no suggestions about E-books, Kindles, etc. I know that many people love them, and they definitely save space, but I hate them and would never consider buying one for myself. To emphasize, I know they are GREAT for some people, but not for me.)
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I am putting this in the Retirement forum rather than the General Moving forum because 20 years ago, I would have taken all my books without even thinking about it. But now, as a senior, I don't want to have any more "stuff" than I actually want or need.
I would dump the encyclopedias. Seriously they are pretty much useless and how long do you think the internet will go down that you would even remotely need them. Same goes for the cookbooks. Look them over and if there are any recipes you want/need write them down. If you have a kitchen that has a bookshelf, keep the nicer looking cookbooks for display purposes. 100 books isn't really all that many but if either of you can pair down ones that you can easily buy again if so desired then do so.
Same goes with furniture. Think, is it cheaper to buy new for your new place than to take your old furniture. I wish I could have convinced my husband to dump the mattresses and most of the furniture before we moved even though we did the move ourselves. Would have saved our backs. We tossed most of our books because I do love kindles but understand many don't.
No, no Smartphone. We are one of the 22% (last statistic I saw about this) who don't have them -- and don't want one!
And about the Smartphones, if there was an EMP, for example, wouldn't the cellphones go down, too? Just wondering.
I don't know what an EMP is, but generally, home internet comes through the phone line or cable. Your cell phone comes through satellites. So, you're dealing with two different sources. If one isn't working, usually, the other one is.
I can't imagine not having a smart phone. I don't use mine for very much, as far as the internet goes, but it gives me another option for GPS, etc., that I wouldn't have otherwise. I don't care about social media, for example, but today I used it to look up bus schedules when I was out using public transportation.
Having a smart phone and cell phone service doesn't really cost more any longer, than having phone service without a smart phone. So, why limit your safety or options?
For instance, if for some reason you get lost, if you have a smart phone, you can use a GPS feature to help you navigate your way back to where you want to go.
Cell phones gave us the ability to be safe wherever we are, at least as far as being able to call for help. If you now have a smart phone, you can be even safer, with the ability to use a GPS feature, and so many other features, like I used today to decide if I want to stay at a bus stop or go wait somewhere else, etc.
I don't see any logic in limiting yourself. Smart phones are cheap, cell phone service that services smart phones is cheap.
To me, this is like limiting yourself to not even having flares in your vehicle before the days of cell phones, or having warming blankets in the car or kitty litter, in case you spin out, etc., in snow somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Imagine giving advice to your own child. Let's say your child says, nope, I don't want a smart phone, I don't care about cell service, and I want to move to the boonies and live in snow and ice, without even any kind of emergency kit in the vehicle - but hey, mom and dad, quit giving me a hard time!
Really? There is nothing glamorous about staying in the caveman days. Again, you don't need anything expensive, but why would you not take all of the emergency options available to you? To me, that's just foolish, especially given that it's not out of the reach, financially, to anyone anymore - including me, who is someone in the extremely low income bracket.
So, please, be smart. People who love you will be glad you did.
On the subject of encyclopedias, the best edition of all time was the 1911 eleventh edition. Many of the best scholars of the time wrote its articles (Bertrand Russell, John Muir, Ernest Rutherford among them). It is still today held in high regard and its articles have been used as source material for Wikipedia:
For instance, if for some reason you get lost, if you have a smart phone, you can use a GPS feature to help you navigate your way back to where you want to go.
Cell phones gave us the ability to be safe wherever we are, at least as far as being able to call for help. If you now have a smart phone, you can be even safer, with the ability to use a GPS feature, and so many other features, like I used today to decide if I want to stay at a bus stop or go wait somewhere else, etc.
I don't see any logic in limiting yourself. Smart phones are cheap, cell phone service that services smart phones is cheap.
There is nothing glamorous about staying in the caveman days. Again, you don't need anything expensive, but why would you not take all of the emergency options available to you? To me, that's just foolish, especially given that it's not out of the reach, financially, to anyone anymore - including me, who is someone in the extremely low income bracket.
So, please, be smart. People who love you will be glad you did.
Not intending to derail the thread into the eternal Smartphone/Featurephone argument, but as a non-smartphone user by choice I'd like to respond to a couple of things.
I don't need a phone with GPS, because I have GPS in my car ... and whenever I go anywhere, I do so in my car. I don't wander around the streets of unknown towns or cities on foot, LOL. So as long as my car starts, I have GPS. Don't need a phone with it. On the rare occasion when I may be in my son's car, there's GPS in that too. In fact everyone I know has GPS in their car.
If my car breaks down or I'm involved in an accident and I need to call someone (like a tow truck, or a friend or relative), my trusty flip phone does that just fine. That's what it's for! I live in suburbia, not in the outback, LOL.
I agree that nowadays data plans are cheaper than they were. Ten years ago it would cost an extra $30/month on top of the $25/mo one paid for a non-smartphone, but nowadays I think one can get an unlimited data/talk/text for about $30/month plus fees and taxes. Right now I pay my son $25/month for my share of the Family Plan for my flip phone and frankly that's all I am willing to pay.
But the main reason I don't want a smartphone is that I do not want GPS (other than the enhanced 911 system which even works on old flip phones) or any other app on my phone that utilizes my location. I have a thing about privacy and although it's getting harder and harder to ensure nowadays, I see no reason to provide another "window" into my life by using a smartphone when a 'feature phone' does the only two things that I want it to do (make phone calls and sent text messages) perfectly well. I waste enough time on the internet on my desktop computer and I do NOT want to do any of it on my phone! Nor do I "need" to. I am not a slave to my phone. In fact I turn it off every night at 10 pm and don't turn it on again until whatever time I get up the next morning. If someone calls me they can leave a message. The world will not end if I'm not instantly available, LOL.
Plus, I love flip phones. I can stick the phone into any pocket and not worry about cracking the screen or accidentally pressing a key or whatever. I hate "open face" phones with a passion. Even the few "flip" smartphones on the market are bigger than my handy little 2008 LG. I will have to switch at the end of this year when Verizon shuts down their 2G network and am very irked about it because all their current flip phones get horrible reviews. But I am not jumping on the Big Brother smartphone bandwagon, and thankfully I still have freedom of choice and don't have to.
Well, I don't want to derail this thread, either, LOL -- but I agree with BBCJunkie for all the reasons she said. One of my major gripes about modern life is how dependent people are on their phones, to the point that many people hardly talk face to face any more, even when they are together! (I also refuse to text, btw.) But, to answer what an EMP is, it stands for ElectroMagnetic Pulse, and this is a real concern -- plus what if there is a serious cyber attack? I don't want to act like some "Doomsday Chicken Little", but both are valid concerns. If the Carrington Event (1859 Solar Storm) happened today, it would be a catastrophe, although scientists disagree on how big a catastrophe or how long the effects would last.
Anyway, to each his (or her) own -- and I am going to remain Smartphone free!
Now, back to our "regular scheduled programming", LOL!
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