Books!

[Farmer J.]

Ok, I give in. Folk are posting pictures of their book collections so I feel I have to join in.... I used to have books in the house but eventually couldn't stand all the musty dusty smell and they took up space. A couple of years ago I had a sort out, and gave half of them away to charity. What I have now can fit in to just 2 boxes.

 

[bmwrd0]

Heh.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a few more garage sale books that I had stashed away.
-Don

 

[NORTON'S SHOP]

A few from my collection:

My mother had these tool use handbooks for use by her one room school house students
These are a 1943 edition with the drawings of “Primitive Pete” done by the Disney artists during WW2


A couple of content pages

Believe it or not. Primitive Pete was some of our first readings in Trade School back in 1979.

 

[Jgaz]

Believe it or not. Primitive Pete was some of our first readings in Trade School back in 1979.

That’s cool!
Same book? Newer edition?
The two from my mom are a 1943 printing.

 

[CHRIII]

I found a few more garage sale books that I had stashed away.
-Don

I have the same VW book. It held my hand as I learned to repair my '73 Fastback and my wife's '73 Bug. Wonderful, helpful book!

Mine is a '76 edition.

I was the Complete Idiot as shown on the cover!

 

[Provincial]

To use that book you have to wear tie-dyed coveralls and drench yourself in Patchouli Oil.

 

[c1504]

That vw book has some cool artwork in it.

I made a few additions to my library today

 

[Outlawmws]

Cool Books!

I don't think I even saw a book out today...

 

[WisJim]

Oh boy, the "Idiot " VW books bring back memories. I have had a half dozen or more of them, and kept the oldest and newest after I sold the last of my VWs (a 1965 Double Cab). Sold most of the other VW books too, keeping just a few for the memories of all the VWs over the years.
We're moving into town and it's a long process due to having a few buildings full of possible projects, neat stuff, extra parts and junk. We are moving books, trying to haul a few hundred a day from the old place to the future home (actually another old place but suitable for single floor living), and I am finally getting the first bookcase filled in my "office" space in the house in town. So here is a picture of mostly tool references and catalogs, along with some old shop related books that I like to keep handy rather than out in the shop.

 

[bmwrd0]

It is one of those funny things, which books do you need close to the work, vs. the books for sitting at home getting ideas and references. I too have to make that distinction, but fortunately, my shop is in my basement.

I picked up a few new books, well, new to me, last weekend:

I think both of these are pretty self-explanatory, but it is always good to pick up more info on tool grinding, which is becoming a lost art.


Now, the Huxley is an interesting account of someone blinded at a young age, and learning to actually see again. This was written, if you don't recognize the author's name, by the writer of Brave New World, one of the books many of us were required to read in high school. The Marco Polo book I picked up as I have a lifelong fascination with his journies and central Asia in general. It is a rather brief overview of his travels, but the interior illustrations are quite nice:

 

[Farmer J.]

The Marco Polo book I picked up as I have a lifelong fascination with his journies and central Asia in general. It is a rather brief overview of his travels, but the interior illustrations are quite nice:

A bit like Colin Thrubron's 'The Lost Heart of Asia',.... only older, and further!
Not totally out of place to mention this in the vintage tool thread, as Damascus Steel features in it.

 

[Jgaz]

Excellent early aviation book. Published 1941
The aviation sheet metal book I posted above is a reprint by these authors


Thanks to this thread for reminding me to get this book back from who I loaned it to.

 

[bmwrd0]

On my usual round of the garage sales and thrift stores yesterday, I picked up the following:

The two railway electrical books are actually textbooks, and give a lot of information about how the electrical systems work, how they are based on batteries charged by the rotation of the axels, and so on. I am sure a lot of this has changed, as these are from 1927, but are quite fascinating.

Boy Mechanic is a compilation of all the articles from Popular Mechanics magazine for young builders. It is from 1952, so a lot of the projects wouldn't be approved for today, such as cigarette holders and whatnot:
2021-08-12_06-18-25 by Aaron Warfield, on Flickr

 

[c1504]

Cool stuff. I love old Popular Mechanics magazines. Is that just the articles from ’52 or several years?

 

[bmwrd0]

The colophon page lists several years from 1913 to the published date of 1952, so I am guessing that there are projects that go back to the earliest days, but they changed the artwork to reflect the fifties. But, as I haven't gone through and checked them all this is just a guess.

 

[ZRX61]

Excellent early aviation book. Published 1941
The aviation sheet metal book I posted above is a reprint by these authors


Thanks to this thread for reminding me to get this book back from who I loaned it to.

Just picked up a copy of that.

 

[c1504]

The colophon page lists several years from 1913 to the published date of 1952, so I am guessing that there are projects that go back to the earliest days, but they changed the artwork to reflect the fifties. But, as I haven't gone through and checked them all this is just a guess.

Ok cool. It is neat that they redid the artwork. I will have to keep an eye out for one of these. I wasn’t even aware they printed them

 

[jagwinn]

 

[Ricky Joe]

It is one of those funny things, which books do you need close to the work, vs. the books for sitting at home getting ideas and references. I too have to make that distinction, but fortunately, my shop is in my basement.

I picked up a few new books, well, new to me, last weekend:

I think both of these are pretty self-explanatory, but it is always good to pick up more info on tool grinding, which is becoming a lost art.


Now, the Huxley is an interesting account of someone blinded at a young age, and learning to actually see again. This was written, if you don't recognize the author's name, by the writer of Brave New World, one of the books many of us were required to read in high school. The Marco Polo book I picked up as I have a lifelong fascination with his journies and central Asia in general. It is a rather brief overview of his travels, but the interior illustrations are quite nice:

Huxley was himself legally blind, and spent a good part of his life trying methods to overcome his blindness, at one point getting to where he drove a car. Three famous people died on the same day: C. S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley, and John Kennedy. As he was dying, Huxley was administered LSD by his request. I have a couple of his books.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

As you guys know, some of the books in the Lugzsonian library are more like collector's items, with no everyday, practical value to me. In that category, you aviation guys may like this Curtiss Inspection Manual from May 1941.



It was sent to me out of the blue by a very generous GJ'er. I don't like to handle it too much, and when I do, it gets the white glove treatment.

Curtiss-Wright had three plants, each section had an inspector, one inspector per shift, and each inspector was assigned one of these books, so they may have produced maybe a few dozen of these.

The tabs will give you a quick idea of the contents.



After 30 years working for the DOD, you can imagine how many technical documents, manuals, CONOPS, Initial Capability Documents, Engineering Plans, Operator's Manuals, etc I have written or reviewed. Like some of those, this manual is chock full of esoteric technical jargon and procedures, but there's also a tone, hard to describe (it's matter of fact, and authoritative, but eloquent and subtly passionate, conveying a sense of greater purpose and responsibility the subject deserves), that you will not find in modern technical writing. It would be considered unnecessary flair today. I felt only the tail end of it in my career in the early 80's when the lab I worked for, still located at Vint Hill Farms Station, VA at that time, was still peopled with squirrely Army Security Agency short-timers and not so overburdened with soulless bureaucracy. The point is that whoever wrote it was as unabashedly erudite with the English language as he was mechanically proficient with airplane parts. I imagine the inspectors were as well.

When we lost that, we lost something else in the process.



It's not without its unintentional humor, either.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I don't want to spam the thread, but here are just a few more excerpts.

 

[bmwrd0]

Those aren't even remotely spam. The writing of the books is just as important as the information, as we have all attempted to read rough translations of already poorly written documents being put out as instructions. It's also a nice illustration of the changes in technical writing that have come along.

 

[Provincial]

When I was young, I was instilled with a "commitment to excellence."

Now I see the young instilled with an "acceptance of inadequacy."

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I just picked this up at the flea market this morning. It's going to be fun to poke around in and I'm not even a big RR nerd. Published in 1923.

 

[bmwrd0]

That is nice Lugz. Are you going to keep it, or trade it?

 

[DAustin]

I have the same VW book. It held my hand as I learned to repair my '73 Fastback and my wife's '73 Bug. Wonderful, helpful book!

Mine is a '76 edition.

I was the Complete Idiot as shown on the cover!

Best VW repair manual ever!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That is nice Lugz. Are you going to keep it, or trade it?

For now, keep it. I have a few RR-related books that make a nice little subsection of the library.

 

[gearhead1960]

OK. I'll admit it.....old or new, I love books. Here is a smattering of books on my shelves. My interests are varied, but boil down to anything that roles, rotates, makes noises or sends projectiles.....


Picked this one at an Estate Sale. Pilot friend was so enamored with it, he had to find his own copy.


Dates from 1942
A few NRA publications I've picked up over the years.....





Of course, everyone's collection needs a few of the Ballantine WWII books.....



Many people are unaware of how much color photography actually occured during WWII as most published photos were B/W. Years ago, I found author Jeff Ethell, who on his own discovered the phlethora of photos taken by servicemen during the war. Kodachrome has been around since the 1930's and with the introduction of inexpensive cameras from Kodak and I believe Agfa, opened the door for amatuer photography. The majority of servicemen were not front line soldiers, but were in a support role. In many cases this lead to downtime. Many brought cameras, or had them sent to them by their families. The result was a lot of photos. Jeff Ethell published many books containing these photos (from his private collection). I have probably 90% of the books he published before his untimely death, flying/crashing a P-38 Lightning! Here's a few of them, along with a few other aviation themed books......


Of course Apollo....my FIL worked on the Apollo missions and my mom worked for a company that was a NASA contractor, so she brought home Apollo stuff from work. Of course, there are books about Apollo and many of them I have signed by the astronauts. Being close to NASM and a supporting member of the Society, I got to see many of the astronauts give talks at the Museum. Alan Bean even spit on me one lecture (I was in front row, directly in front of him) ....I haven't showered since....


I have much much more to share, but since I have reached my photo limit for this post......to be continued.

 

[gearhead1960]

....continuing.... of course no collection is complete without books from MAD......

...just a smattering of William Gaines' finest.

Lastly, I leave you with the books currently on my nightstand for reading..... this is a book club? Right? Sort of like Oprah?


Happy reading!

 

[bmwrd0]

Nice collection!

 

[gearhead1960]

Oh yeah, and to boot, most of them sit on a vintage Heywood Wakefield bookcase SWMBO spotted out on a curb for free!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

And there is a very specialized tool in that last photo, a book weight, used to hold open a stiff volume.

They do help keep stubborn books open flat, but I like your black one better!

 

[Ricky Joe]

When I was young, I was instilled with a "commitment to excellence."

Now I see the young instilled with an "acceptance of inadequacy."

I never felt like I was a good enough mechanic, so always went the extra mile when I was young. As I got older, I still feel inadequate, and am shocked at the careless approach modern guys have. I was never secure enough to think I knew more than the books, and never arrogant enough to just assume that I knew enough. Often, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I probably never torqued lug nuts until thirty years into my career. I’m not sure how I made it this far, but I see kids today and cringe at the learning curve they have. Of course, some people have forty years experience, and some have one year’s experience forty times.

 

[Provincial]

I was raised with the direction to always do the best job that I was able to do. If it wasn't good enough, then learn from it and apply that to do it better the next time. The idea is to always be building your abilities, rather than just sliding along with what you can get away with. All the while obsessing about "self-esteem."

I see our society trending toward "confident, but not competent."

 

[AreBeeBee]

Back in the 1980s under the influence of Lucifer's Hammer (then just published), I adopted the idea of gathering an "end of civilization" library of technical books. The project was never completed, but it gave me a good excuse to poke through used book stores and library and rummage sales for items.

I looked specifically for books such as the "Simplified Design of...." series by Harry Parker, published by John Wiley. Those covered roof trusses, reinforced concrete, structural timber, structural steel, etc., etc. I also collected books on pavements, sewage and water supplies, various handbooks for civil and mechanical engineers and the like.

The idea was to have a collection of books and compendia of information that used pre-electronic calculating devices (slide rules, of which I have a number) and techniques to build structures and public works with basic, early 20th-century technology. This meant in practice looking for books with copyrights pre-1960 roughly.

Never finished, as I said. But the items rest all together in multiple cardboard Time Capsules in the basement. Needless to say, I've enjoyed very much seeing the items posted here on this thread and look forward to more.

 

[Outlawmws]

I've a similar "collection" maybe not as exhaustive, but yes, what if we had to "start over?"

None are in boxes and none have been donated...

 

[Outlawmws]

I was raised with the direction to always do the best job that I was able to do. If it wasn't good enough, then learn from it and apply that to do it better the next time. The idea is to always be building your abilities, rather than just sliding along with what you can get away with. All the while obsessing about "self-esteem."

I see our society trending toward "confident, but not competent."

Prov, my two youngest are after me to write a book on "Work ethic" as they give me credit for theirs, and have both said they have never met anyone with a better work ethic.

Your short paragraph summarized the approach nicely!

 

[kwigly]

One of my old books is Her Majesty's 1887 "Military Engineering" book, Vol I Part III, on "Military Bridges". As a retired engineer I am fascinated by all the details on knots and lashings to join timbers, and strength calculations for all sorts of bridge types, ranging from simple spans to complex suspension bridges. I was delighted to see the loading design includes loads from the military's elephants and camels.
(I also have the military issue 1911 "Field Engineering" book, but although the bridge section includes loading from bigger guns, the elephants and camels are no longer mentioned. They still have cavalry though).

 

[mritchie77]

Well, since this thread has ventured off of reference books several times, I'll throw up my small collection. Please forgive the woodwork. This was our first house we bought last year and I threw these together to get everything out of boxes. I quickly learned that I do not like woodworking.



As with the theme here, most of my books pertain to history, specifically military history and Texas (especially Texas Ranger lore).

My favorite part of the collection though, are my WWII service books. Local VFW and Legion posts created yearbook style records right after the war to document the service of the men and women of the county. These documented names, parents, service dates, training and theater information along with awards. Many are quite rare and hard to come by.





After collecting these for several years, my wife and I approached the University of North Texas about digitizing them and hosting them on the Portal To Texas History. As any military personnel researcher will tell you, the National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR) in St. Louis suffered a catastrophic fire in 1973 resulting in the loss of most WWI and WWII Army (and AAC) records. These books are some of the last (period) records of military service in WWII for tens of thousands of Texans. Being individuals and not a non-profit, it was difficult to secure funding (being 23 at the time didn't help as most institutions didn't take us seriously) but since then we have had 12 digitized and hope to make headway into the other 41 in our collection soon.

As with most on the vintage threads of GarageJournal, I have a passion for saving and preserving historic items for future generations.