No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me • Hacker News Board

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#21

Post by mindcrash » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:19 PM UTC

For me one of the best ways until now to get good quality IT books is (believe it or not): Humble Bundle (https://www.humblebundle.com/)

The past year they featured bundles from (quickly out of my head): O'Reilly, MIT Press, Manning, Pearson, Pragmatic Programmers and No Starch Press.

Oh, and Packt. But I left that one out because the quality of most Packt books is total shit (IMO).

It's the next best thing besides going on the seven seas if you want to reliably read IT related books on a ereader without spending a ton of money. (book bundles go for about $20 to $30 each, with most if of not all of them totaling up to $1000 or sometimes even more in value).

If you're fast there's still time to get these right now:

15 Linux/DevOps related books from O'Reilly: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/linux-from-beginner-to-pr...

20 Data Science/Data Engineering related books from O'Reilly: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/data-engineering-science-...

18 Hacking/Cybersec related books from No Starch: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/hacking-no-starch-books

19 Software Architecture related books from Pearson: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/software-architecture-pea...

29 AI related books from Manning: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/ultimate-ai-algorithms-an...

21 Microsoft Certification prep books from Pearson: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/microsoft-certification-p...

19 books on Software Strategy and Risk Management from Pragmatic Programmers: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/software-strategy-and-ris...

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#22

Post by vittore » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:25 PM UTC

mindcrash wrote: post #21

For me one of the best ways until now to get good quality IT books is (believe it or not): Humble Bundle ( https://www.humblebundle.com/ ) The past year they featured bundles from (quickly out of my head): O'Reilly, MIT Press, Manning, Pearson, Pragmatic Programmers and No Starch Press. Oh, and Packt. But I left that one out because the quality of most Packt books is total shit (IMO). It's the next best thing besides…

I used to buy almost every single one of their bundle, but at some point I got a feeling they started repeating with different bundle titles.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#23

Post by jldugger » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:25 PM UTC

I have O'Reilly subs available both from my employer and my local library. Doesn't fix the UI issues but does at least shift the ROI calculus.

There are some applications that try to export O'Reilly books into Kindle formats, but every time I've tried they've mangled a few tables, formulas or sidebars, etc. I should probably sell or hand down my kindle and find something more suitable to O'Reilly.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#24

Post by adamors » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:31 PM UTC

whenc wrote: post #15

cauliflower99 wrote: post #13

Anytime I'm asked for feedback via the O'Reilly website (I manage the business account for my company), the first thing I always say is that the app is unusable. I've tried it on my Amazon Fire Tablet, Ipad, different phones - it doesn't work. The user metrics in O'reilly (and probably most learning apps) has floored in the last 12 months. I see they've launched a new AI platform now. They're definitely going in a di…

It went un-noticed here, I think, but The Pragmatic Bookshelf recently fired most of its staff and are taking on no new books. In the email they sent to authors, they quoted a 40% YoY fall in non-fiction sales, industry-wide.

Wow, would be interested to read more about this, could you submit the email maybe as its own post? Even as a text version, I actually love the PragProg, would hate to seem them gone (but I guess it’s a foregone conclusion).

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#25

Post by reader9274 » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:31 PM UTC

crazysim wrote: post #6

tombert wrote: post #3

I get the O’Reilly subscription through the ACM. It’s an extra $75 a year after a regular ACM membership. A lot less than $500/year.

For those curious about the ACM membership: https://www.acm.org/membership/membership-options

> ACM is pleased to share an important milestone for the computing field. Beginning January 2026, all ACM publications and related artifacts in the ACM Digital Library will be made open access.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#26

Post by tjr » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:32 PM UTC

whenc wrote: post #15

cauliflower99 wrote: post #13

Anytime I'm asked for feedback via the O'Reilly website (I manage the business account for my company), the first thing I always say is that the app is unusable. I've tried it on my Amazon Fire Tablet, Ipad, different phones - it doesn't work. The user metrics in O'reilly (and probably most learning apps) has floored in the last 12 months. I see they've launched a new AI platform now. They're definitely going in a di…

It went un-noticed here, I think, but The Pragmatic Bookshelf recently fired most of its staff and are taking on no new books. In the email they sent to authors, they quoted a 40% YoY fall in non-fiction sales, industry-wide.

Is this because people seek knowledge from LLMs rather than from books now?

Or is it because LLMs know everything that is in books, so people don't feel compelled to learn any more themselves?

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#27

Post by anticorporate » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:32 PM UTC

whenc wrote: post #15

cauliflower99 wrote: post #13

Anytime I'm asked for feedback via the O'Reilly website (I manage the business account for my company), the first thing I always say is that the app is unusable. I've tried it on my Amazon Fire Tablet, Ipad, different phones - it doesn't work. The user metrics in O'reilly (and probably most learning apps) has floored in the last 12 months. I see they've launched a new AI platform now. They're definitely going in a di…

It went un-noticed here, I think, but The Pragmatic Bookshelf recently fired most of its staff and are taking on no new books. In the email they sent to authors, they quoted a 40% YoY fall in non-fiction sales, industry-wide.

Honestly, I wonder how some of these publishers stay in business at all. I haven't written a book, but I've been a technical reviewer for friends who have been published with some of the larger technical publishers. Nobody was making money from the process. I do wonder if maybe they're just taking on too many titles and reaching saturation. Do we really need "The guide to making X on Y with Z" for every potential iteration?

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#28

Post by Goofy_Coyote » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:33 PM UTC

vittore wrote: post #14

If you are in Bay area, San Francisco Public Library (sfpl.org) gives you access to O'Reilly for free, if you have library card, while it does not improve on usability issues, at 0 cost it is phenomenal resource.

My two problems with access through libraries is lack of app access, and that every time I login, all my progress is gone (not reset to cover - gone gone), and I have to find the resource again, open it and go to the page/time I was at. Also can’t create my own playlist or favorites.

At least my library acts like that.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#29

Post by throw0101a » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:35 PM UTC

tombert wrote: post #3

I get the O’Reilly subscription through the ACM. It’s an extra $75 a year after a regular ACM membership. A lot less than $500/year.

> I get the O’Reilly subscription through the ACM.

I get it through my library:

* https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMEDB00...

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#30

Post by markus_zhang » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:36 PM UTC

I have figured that I’m going to get exactly one CS hobby that is not work, and 0 CS hobby if I can find a job that fits the hobby.

Then I figured there are less than ten books that I need to read, and probably less if I can get such a job because it is always a lot better to learn on the job.

So I agree with the author that such subscription is not very useful, and a paper book + a paper notepad are way better than reading books on a tablet.