2 Questions: Upgrades & Recycling

Been playing this game for a bit now and decided to spend a lot of time pirating so I can trade for some better items.

My first question is whether there is some sort of FAQ out there that outlines all of the upgrades in the game, and gives real-world descriptions of them and recommendations as to their usefullness. I was about to trade for a Coolant Pod earlier tonight, and then I checked the encyclopedia and realized it sounded rather crappy. Other items don’t have such descriptive entries and it’s difficult to tell whether it’s worth the trade or not.

The other question I had was about Recycling. Does anyone know if there are certain cargo items that are NEVER traded, and would only be usefull as recycling matter? I’ve held off recycling so far since I’m unsure what items to keep and which to scrap, but it would be a good start if I knew which items(if any) are not traded for and can be sent straight to the recycler. No point in crowding my cargo screen with items I could be recycling.