As I was looking through my library, searching for a reference on chemistry, I came across this book: General Chemistry, 5th ed., by Horace G. Deming. The first edition was copyrighted in 1923, and this edition is copyrighted 1944 (though this particular book is from the fifth printing–October 1945). I skimmed through it a bit, and it seems like a really excellent book–better, anyway, than the chemistry books I had in school.

I've since read the first chapter, and I'm reminded why I like old books so well–the language used in modern books is so boring by comparison. For instance, Deming defines metallurgy as "the art or science of winning metals from their ores." Of course, much of the 'interesting' word choice is due to simple shifts in language, and wouldn't have been especially unusual at the time, but even so, older books often had some character not present in modern books; authors often wrote rather poetically, compared to the much simpler prose of modern books, devoid of 'needless' complexity of language. And, I find that language aside, there are many times interesting comments from the authors. For example, at the end of the first chapter (of fifty), "What Chemistry Is About", Deming writes:

I would not expect such an aside in any modern chemistry textbook. Perhaps, for most students, it would not be a useful thing to say, but I would hope that some would have the fires of their interest stoked by this comment. It's an optimistic view of the value of education, but I do not think optimism is a vice. And, of course, if I did not agree with the sentiment, I wouldn't be writing this.