Should I give a dead strangers book to his children?
It’s not like a family photo or something; although I’m sure someone would appreciate the gesture, they might end up dumping it straight back into the trash after you’ve left. Unless one of them happens to be a physicist or an engineer, or someone with a strong interest in engineering/physics history, what do you suppose they’ll do with a CRC Handbook, particularly one from 1941? I think a lot of people might just regard it as an inconveniently-shaped doorstop at best. Presumably, the book ended up at the recycling center because someone was cleaning out the guy’s office or bookshelf and decided not to keep it. I’d bet you that’s where it ends up again. I guess it can’t hurt to call them up, or send them a note or something, and offer them the book, sort of a right-of-first-refusal thing; but I wouldn’t just package the book up and give it to them. They’d probably feel obligated to take it, they might not want it, and you — who actually would use the book (even if just as a desk orname
