old computer books (was Re: The Unix Haters' Handbook)

[Frank McConnell]

Sean Conner wrote:
> It was thus said that the Great Liam Proven once stated:
>> 
>> When I was a baby geek, I remember reading about this seminal text, a
>> distillation from a long-active mailing list called UNIX-HATERS. Now,
>> it's available for free:
>
>   Darn.  And to think I bought the dead tree version in the mid 90s (I still
> have the barf bag that came with it).

Looks like it's still worth at least a few bucks, more if it's in
decent condition.  "Available free online" doesn't always whack
the market for the dead-trees artifact.

On another bookish note I have in front of me the February 16, 1970
issue of The IBM Magazine which contains an article featuring
Dr. Kenneth E. Iverson.  There's a photograph of his 1962 book,
"A Programming Language", with a caption:

   Dr. Iverson presented his new notation in 
   A Programming Language, which has sold
   1,363 copies since it was published in 1962.

This suggests to me that I have perhaps personally seen 1% of the
surviving copies.

-Frank McConnell