What textbooks did you hang on to after finishing school?

^^ yeah, this. i've got two shelves with loads of random books from college, that i ~should~ just sell/give away. honestly i'd much rather have a shelf of books TO READ than books i've already read.

will likely keep most of my medical textbooks, though, for reference. "reference."

(masturbating)

xxp But for whose sake, Nick? I don't put books on a bookshelf to impress my guests. I do like having them within easy reach, though -- I hardly ever reread whole books, either, but occasionally I'll want to look up a quote or something -- and there's something personally pleasing about being able to just look at them all. It's good decor, too.

I recently retrieved about a dozen undergrad and postgrad physics/maths texts from my parents' house where they've languished for nearly 20 years. I have this daft notion of being able to sell them.

yeah i'm mostly just being provocative. but i do think there's an element of personality exhibitionism (or exhibitionism of what you want your personality to be) in displaying your books. we keep our books in a room that guests don't usually go into (office/computer room) but i still am slightly embarrassed by the dumb books in our collection.

It's funny, I happen to be visiting my Mom right now and there are tons of college books here -- mostly novels, poetry, etc. from English classes, but also some Norton anthologies and some theology books, etc. Didn't keep any like Bio or Math books or anything. But I wonder what the point of keeping them is...There's plenty of awesome, awesome books, but they mostly sit almost 1000 miles away from me and should I want to reread them I would probably just get them from the library (as I recently did with "On a Winter's Night a Traveler"). Plus I was looking through some of them last night and it is kind of cringeworthy, what I underlined/noted at the time. Maybe I would rather a fresh copy.

I guess it would be more trouble than it's worth to get rid of...but I also have a significant nostalgic attachment to lots of them -- Could I really get rid of my copy of "Ulysses" even if I will probably never read it again??? So I keep them for kind of the same reason I keep letters from girlfriends past, like they are talismans or something of my life.

Sister Carrie - Norton Critical Ed
McTeague
Political Thought reader
Discipline and Punish
The American Presidency
Exit, Voice & Loyalty

That list excludes books I simply couldn't unload thanks to the genius who came up with the idea of changing 2 paragraphs and calling the book a new edition. Fuck that guy.

I will also agree with jaymc -- books look awesome in an apartment or a house, especially full bookshelves. I dream of one day have awesome built in shelves in like a "study" or a "library" or something.

It is not exhibitionism, it is aesthetics.

Considering most book people I know freely admit to judging ppl by their book collections (or at least checking the books out as the first thing they do visiting a new house), it'd be surprising if they didn't have that in mind when sorting out where their own books go.

I kept virtually all my textbooks, but I can't even bring myself to get rid of some really awful books, so w/e.

We have several areas in our apartment with books -- fiction in the living room, basic nonfiction/reference books in the dining room, and poetry/essays/memoirs in the bedroom. (Oh, and cookbooks in the kitchen.) Because the fiction is in a hutch, behind glass doors, the most visible bookcase to guests is the one in the dining room, and I do get mildly embarrassed by that one because it's filled with a) books from college with the yellow sticker, and b) lots of pop-culture-related books. I guess I'd rather "show off" our fiction collection, but ultimately I don't care about it enough, and I like the books where they are.

All of them except for the ones in math and science.

I think I'm only going to keep my math and science books, but then again I'm gonna be an engineer

n/a otm about why people keep books around: at least a little, for the exhibitionism. that's probably one of the reasons we have so many books, but plus they look good. what's funny to me about this is i don't think i would make fun of *anyone* for having certain books or books with USED labels on the side or whatever. so i maybe expect people to judge me on my books, but i don't judge people for their books, and i kind of like seeing those used stickers, i dunno.

oh and I have a norton anthology of early brit lit, a hardbound complete Chaucer, some art books from art appreciation 101, and a bunch of english class books, but i have donated some. and my astronomy textbook from college, for the awesome pictures of *space*

now judge me, quick

The only books I don't have from college are the ones I've lost. I tend not to get rid of books.

I think the used stickers just make my shelves look very just-out-of-college, like I don't have a "real" library full of books I've bought as an adult yet.

yeah but jaymc, i think everyone knows how easy it is to just hang on to books like that, even though you've been out of college forever. i mean, i'm 90% sure i still have my "Oh The Places You'll Go" my mom gave me when i graduated high school

Btw, I keep reading this thread title and thinking it's about textbooks that teach you how to curtsy.

*The Art of Crumpets
*Tea Cozies I Have Known

lol

- Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Poetry, ed. Paul Hoover
- American Music by Kyle Gann
- Manifestoes of 20th Century Architecture
- Japan 1933-1945

These are all undergrad. A lot of readers and books from grad school, of course, but since I am not finished with my MFA, I'm still hoarding them. And probably will continue to hoard them. I think that whether displays of books are ostentatious or not depends much on how they are displayed the the discipline(s) of the owner(s). For example, there is no fucking way I'm getting rid of all my poetry and theory books— since I write most criticism and poetry, I need to refer back to these works all the time, and will probably continue to need to do so.

*and the disciplines of the owners.

I was an English major, so about 99% of my college books were novels (or literary theory). The real question is about whether you ever kept those bound readers that professors handed out to save you the money on buying books. Nothing aesthetically pleasing about them, but often stuffed full of good essays/stories/etc.

Kept every book relating to my major. They're in boxes in ma's basement right now, but when I had a bookshelf set up it was really handy for looking up trivia about the making of Citizen Kane and crap like that.

Also really should have but didn't keep the tons of printouts of out of print comics that my comix professor gave everyone.

the only point to keeping books around these days is to have a lending library for friends

Mordy, in grad school, I plan on keeping most of my readers, because the profs who made them are excellent curators. I wish I had the list for Dod1e B3llamy's "Irresponsible Essay" seminar in front of me right now— a real treasure trove of stuff.

Yeah, I regret tossing a few of my course readers (cultural criticism, film theory) because most of what was in them were essays/articles from out of print books or old journals that I wouldn't come across at a bookstore. When I was doing the literature review part of my Master's thesis, I regretted it the most, because I remembered there being a few articles from those undergrad course readers that were pertinent, but I couldn't remember author or title info.

- I kept most of the novels/anthologies/plays/screenplays from my English lit classes
- I kept a lot of theory stuff, especially the art theory and film theory books that had color plates. Film Art: An Introduction is a good reference book
- I kept some books from classes I bought the books for, then dropped.
- I still have a couple of Intro to Latin books that my ex gave me that he said were good for learning the language on your own ... I never attempted this, though I intended to.
- I actually ended up "buying" some books from the library for grad school - I didn't return them, and paid the replacement cost

I'm a big fan of selling back. I'd sell any physical book in my home right now if someone would buy them.

I'm kinda tempted to do this ... we perpetually have stacks of books on the floor.

damn it jaymc beat me. was gonna say:
http://superfreshkids.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/etiquette_tiffanystablemanners.jpg

i still have an organic chemistry and physical chemistry textbook, they sit under my studio monitors

I didn't know they had textbooks in finishing schools.

Economics by Alain Anderton

I kept all of my textbooks for about a year after getting my undergrad, but I eventually got sick of moving them (In the past five years I've moved seven times, including a trip from Tampa to Portland, OR).

I regret getting rid of a few books, though. I took many more classes than I needed to graduate, just cause I loved the subjects. And some of those books were very well written.

I'm still clinging to my Norton Anthologies of whatever whatever from undergrad,

^^^^^^

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RA75TFVEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU02_.jpg
Mine hasn't got the arrow stuck to the top though.

And I still don't know how to do it.

kept all of mine with the notable exception of the ones from an American Studies class, which was the worst class i ever had. threw those away in an attempt to eradicate them from the earth (mostly because 2 of them were written by the professor, who was a shitbag)

i didn't keep much from undergrad -- i was an english major and most of my books were cheap reprints of the classics, so i figured i could replace those easily if i wanted to.

i've kept pretty much everything from grad school.

I'm still clinging to my Norton Anthologies of whatever whatever from undergrad

me too. i have a norton anthology lurking around my parents' place somewhere.

I kept everyyyy book from undergrad but then left them w/ my roommates while I left the country and they got lost when they moved out. was really annoyed. only book I have left is this, which woulda been my POO anyway:

http://rgr-static1.tangentlabs.co.uk/media/9780195083798/history-of-architecture-settings-and-rituals.jpg