I sometimes buy outdated books on subjects that I remember being weird (metal alloys, ancient history) or charming/grounding (history of languages, the biological aspect of forensics etc.) from the time when I attended high school. Of course, I am not an avid reader, and sometimes I put the book aside. OTOH, my parents’ library has more books than I care to read, some of them nonfiction, so I can just pull out anything and trust it will be either interesting to read or at the very list a conversation starter.
I sometimes buy outdated books on subjects that I remember being weird (metal alloys, ancient history) or charming/grounding (history of languages, the biological aspect of forensics etc.) from the time when I attended high school. Of course, I am not an avid reader, and sometimes I put the book aside. OTOH, my parents’ library has more books than I care to read, some of them nonfiction, so I can just pull out anything and trust it will be either interesting to read or at the very list a conversation starter.