Poll HN: How often do you read technical books?
4 comments
Hmm, it depends on what exactly you mean. I was going to answer "often", but from the description it sounds like you have in mind the kinds of books that come from technical publishers like O'Reilly, which I read closer to "rarely/never".
For languages, frameworks, tools, etc., I almost never read books. But I do read technical books on concepts, ideas, research areas, techniques, etc. So e.g. in computational statistics / ML, I've never bought/read a book like "R in Action", but I do own "The Elements of Statistical Learning".
For languages, frameworks, tools, etc., I almost never read books. But I do read technical books on concepts, ideas, research areas, techniques, etc. So e.g. in computational statistics / ML, I've never bought/read a book like "R in Action", but I do own "The Elements of Statistical Learning".
Yeah, I had something in my head when I went to create this, but in the process of defining it I discovered the question was rather flawed.
I had an idea for a project that rather relied (at least as far as early monetization) on developers preferring to read books, if only as a supplement to online learning.
This would include books like SICP, CLRS, etc., but I thought O'Reilly-type books would be where the most dollars are spent.
There is definitely a market for those books, but it may largely be a "newbie" sort of market, with more advanced developers preferring other methods to acquire knowledge. As a very junior developer, I can't personally see that gap, so I had to ask.
I had an idea for a project that rather relied (at least as far as early monetization) on developers preferring to read books, if only as a supplement to online learning.
This would include books like SICP, CLRS, etc., but I thought O'Reilly-type books would be where the most dollars are spent.
There is definitely a market for those books, but it may largely be a "newbie" sort of market, with more advanced developers preferring other methods to acquire knowledge. As a very junior developer, I can't personally see that gap, so I had to ask.
I'd like to define "reading" a book to mean something a bit closer to sitting down with a book, or some sort of study, rather than looking for a quick reference.
Reading papers sounds like a gray area there. I don't consider that to be "study" (since some papers can be digested in 15 minutes) but it's usually more informative and demanding than reading an article. If you're into certain branches of computer science, you'll tend to read more papers (and/or journals) than books per se.
Reading papers sounds like a gray area there. I don't consider that to be "study" (since some papers can be digested in 15 minutes) but it's usually more informative and demanding than reading an article. If you're into certain branches of computer science, you'll tend to read more papers (and/or journals) than books per se.
"[S]tudy," in that sentence, was supposed to mean "studying" rather than a paper. My intent was to separate the sorts of books that you might read end to end from the sort that sit on a shelf until you need to extract some specific piece of information from them.
It's clear to me now that I've done a terrible job of this poll, so perhaps I'll try it again tomorrow with a clearer view and delete this version.
It's clear to me now that I've done a terrible job of this poll, so perhaps I'll try it again tomorrow with a clearer view and delete this version.
If I'm missing any important options, let me know and I'll add them. Also, if my choices above are really skewed or inaccurate, I can make a new post with better choices.
I'd like to know if there's truth to the rumour that tech books are a dying breed, so let's conduct a little survey.
I'd like to define "reading" a book to mean something a bit closer to sitting down with a book, or some sort of study, rather than looking for a quick reference.
So, how often would you say you start reading a new technical book?