

Tell HN: Giving away programming books to HN members - dawson

Due to a sudden decision to quite my day job and return to being a student (leaving IT), I have been sorting through all my books and deciding what I'm going to give to charity etc. The following books I felt would be better served within the HN community. They're all as-new condition, most have never been opened. I'm not asking for any money, I will even pay the shipping costs as I know a lot of us here are bootstrapping start-ups and or students themselves. I do live in the UK though, so if you're asking me to send a book to the other side of the world, it would be nice if you did paypal me at least some of the postage :P<p>The only rule I have is one book per HN user (it might be good to just say why you want the book / how it will be helpful)! I will update each listing below with a username of the receiver.<p>Books as follows:<p>[1] Principles of Biomedical Informatics (Hardcover) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Biomedical-Informatics-PhD/dp/0123694388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352239&#38;sr=1-1<p>[2] Ruby Programming for Medicine and Biology - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Medicine-Bartlett-Biomedical-Informatics/dp/0763750905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352284&#38;sr=1-1<p>[3] Bioinformatics for Dummies - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bioinformatics-Dummies-Jean-Michel-Claverie/dp/0470089857/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352308&#38;sr=1-1<p>[4] Ferret - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferret-David-Balmain/dp/0596519400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352339&#38;sr=1-1<p>[5] The Ruby Programming Language - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruby-Programming-Language-David-Flanagan/dp/0596516177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352356&#38;sr=1-1<p>[6] Java All-in-one Desk Reference for Dummies (Paperback) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Java-All-one-Reference-Dummies/dp/0470124512/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352380&#38;sr=1-3<p>[7] Building Bioinformatics Solutions: with Perl, R and MySQL (Paperback) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Bioinformatics-Solutions-Perl-MySQL/dp/0199230234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352412&#38;sr=1-1<p>[8] Beginning Ruby on Rails (Wrox Beginning Guides) (Paperback) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beginning-Ruby-Rails-Wrox-Guides/dp/0470069155/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352434&#38;sr=1-2<p>[9] Designing Virtual Worlds (Paperback) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Virtual-Worlds-Richard-Bartle/dp/0131018167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352457&#38;sr=1-1<p>[10 GONE klaut] Founders at Work - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Founders-Work-Startups-27-Startups-Problem-Solution/dp/1430210788/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1267352477&#38;sr=1-1<p>For those willing to contribute to shipping, my paypal is dk401@cam.ac.uk - don't worry if you can't afford postage, I'll still send the book to you.
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dawson
The books have now all gone, I will try my best to get them all posted next
week. Thanks everyone.

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cema
I do not need the books but I want to thank you for the idea.

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atlantic
I'd really like to have The Ruby Programming Language. I've been interested in
Ruby for quite a while now, and having a hard copy of this reference is going
to make me take the step in investing the time to learn the language.

I'm in Portugal, btw. If you need some funds for the p&p, just let me know
how.

~~~
dawson
It's yours

~~~
atlantic
Thank you very much. I sent the email...

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dawson
Remaining:

[2] Ruby Programming for Medicine and Biology -
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Medicine-Bartlett-
Biomed...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Medicine-Bartlett-Biomedical-
Informatics/dp/0763750905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267352284&sr=1-1)

~~~
zlatan
I'd really love [7] Building Bioinformatics Solutions: with Perl, R and MySQL
(Paperback) - [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Bioinformatics-Solutions-
Pe...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Bioinformatics-Solutions-Pe..).

Sending you an email now...

~~~
dawson
It's yours

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ig1
I've actually got a pile of programming books I'd like to get rid of as well,
but don't want to give them to my local charity shop as I'm guessing they're
unlikely to find any buyers for them there. Anyone having any other
suggestions (well other than just posting to HN) what to do with them ?

~~~
gilesbowkett235
I'm in the same boat. I'd be happy to give books away to people locally (I'm
in Los Angeles) but I'm kinda too busy to deal with the post office. There's a
cool web site or two that address this problem (a friend of mine is a big fan
of one which I believe is called PaperbookBookSwap.com or something like
that), but it's not worth it to me to wait at the post office. (Waiting in
lines drives me nuts.)

In the past I've given books away to the local library. Where I live now, they
only take donations on Saturday mornings, so I've just been giving them to
Goodwill instead. There's something about donating a Haskell intro to Goodwill
that fills very stupid, though. I hope they have some system where they put
them all on eBay or sell them upstream somewhere to some kind of distributor,
but I think they just throw them on the shelves.

If we were to build or find some kind of "free programmer books" site where we
could just co-ordinate giveaways, I'd be very happy to kick in a ton of books,
and probably to keep doing so for years.

~~~
AnneTheAgile
FYI, nowadays if you have more than one [I think 2 is the number] of priority
mail items, you can request a USPS pickup!

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messel
The ruby programming language or beginning ruby on rails could be handy. Are
they available? Reach me at messel at gmail dot com.

Thanks for the generosity, solid positive karma!

~~~
dawson
Sorry, only book left is, [2] Ruby Programming for Medicine and Biology -
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Medicine-Bartlett-
Biomed...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Medicine-Bartlett-Biomedical-
Informatics/dp/0763750905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267352284&sr=1-1)

~~~
messel
That's probably better for the eager hands of a computational biologist
considering dipping their toes into programming. Hey Dawson, I'm writing up a
short blog post about your generosity, is there a homepage I can link to
besides your HN profile?

~~~
dawson
Wow wasn't expecting that ;) erm just my twitter page I'm afraid? @dawson you
could link to that I guess

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Tichy
I would be interested in "Designing Virtual Worlds". Living in Germany

What is your new field of study? Perhaps I could send you a book in exchange,
as I hate Paypal.

~~~
dawson
Sorry, it's gone :( Theology

~~~
bmj
Anything in particular?

~~~
dawson
Bachelor of Theology BTh (applied), at Cambridge

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maxklein
Are you giving away only your books, or are you also giving up programming?
Did you recently find your faith, or why did you decide to go for theology?

~~~
dawson
I will still program as a hobby, just not full-time, as I have the past twelve
years.

I am a Christian and I am applying to study Theology both for personal and
professional reasons. I wish to deepen my understanding of God and my
relationship with Him. Professionally, I have recently begun work on a new
Christian Community Interest (CIC) start-up designed for social enterprise
that will use profits and assets for ministry, community service and outreach,
on both a local and global scale. A better grounding in theology will
therefore not only be personally fulfilling but essential for developing this
new ministry.

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sandis
I would love to improve my knowledge of Java and "Java All-in-one Desk
Reference" seems to be a perfect fit :) E-mailed you

~~~
dawson
It's yours

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klaut
Well, i would love to have founders at work. i am in the uk as well. How do i
send a "formal" request to you? :)

~~~
dawson
It's yours

~~~
klaut
Thanks a lot! email sent :)

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micrypt
[7] Building Bioinformatics Solutions: with Perl, R and MySQL (Paperback)

\- sent an email earlier.

~~~
dawson
I know you e-mailed me first but I had given it to someone who posted in the
comments after, so I'll send you out a new one from Amazon. Thanks

~~~
oomkiller
Wow, you are quite generous!

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kloncks
[9] sounds fascinating from its Amazon page. Could I have that one?

I just emailed you as well.

~~~
dawson
It's yours (it's awesome btw, I read this one!)

~~~
kloncks
There are ones you're giving away without even reading :P ?

~~~
dawson
Most of them I haven't read! I have a problem with buying books and not
reading them, I need help. I just like buying/collecting books :(

~~~
awa
Same problem here, I have made a rule that I won't buy a book unless I finish
one of my to read list. Though I still checkout books frequently from the
library.

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julsonl
The Principles of Biomedical Informatics looks interesting. Can I have it?

~~~
dawson
It's yours

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allynbauer
I would love #2 if it is available. allyn.bauer at gmail dot com

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bosse
I'd like [8], emailing you.

~~~
dawson
It's yours

