All Packt ebooks are $5 • Hacker News Board

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#31

Post by btb » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:19 PM UTC

SanderMak wrote: post #16

dons wrote: post #6

These are $5 for a reason. http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/1rj2jq/book_haskell...

They seem to exhibit the same behavior as online content-farms. Shame we don't have a real-life Panda update to squash subpar books.

I would suggest checking out the reviews on amazon before buying, even if its only 5$ :)

I dont have enough packt titles to evaluate their general quality, but at least I found their early solr books useful(it was also the only book on solr back then, so not much choice :)

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#32

Post by judah » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:24 PM UTC

I was contacted by Packt yesterday to write a book on KnockoutJS. I am an expert in the subject matter, however, I'm currently working a full time dev job, a part time dev job at nights, and my startup on the weekends. So, I declined.

Now that I see some of the comments here about quantity over quality, I'm feeling better about my decision to turn it down.

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#33

Post by mjmsmith » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:33 PM UTC

Learning jQuery (http://www.packtpub.com/learning-jquery-with-simple-javascri...) seems to be generally well reviewed.

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#34

Post by ludwigvan » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:34 PM UTC

Too much negativity here. Some of their books are good.

I have both PostgreSQL 9 Admin Cookbook and PostgreSQL 9.0 High Performance and they are pretty good books.

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#35

Post by ludwigvan » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:38 PM UTC

shubb wrote: post #21

Can anyone recommend a particular book? So far we have: +Object-Oriented JavaScript - Second Edition +Building Machine Learning Systems with Python +Data Visualization: a successful design process +Infinispan Data Grid Platform

PostgreSQL 9 Admin Cookbook and PostgreSQL 9.0 High Performance

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#36

Post by incision » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:39 PM UTC

You can get a preview of Packt books over on Safari [0].

Personally, I've found the quality of content and editing in Packt books to be consistently terrible. I won't click on a Packt book in my all you can read Safari Library subscription, I certainly wouldn't pay $5 for any of them.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I can't recommend No Starch Press [1][2] enough.

0: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/browse?publisher=83&publishe...

1: http://shop.oreilly.com/category/publishers/no-starch-press....

2: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/browse?publisher=59&publishe...

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#37

Post by ing33k » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:40 PM UTC

after reading a packtpub book, I realized even I could write a book.

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#38

Post by thauck » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:50 PM UTC

judah wrote: post #32

I was contacted by Packt yesterday to write a book on KnockoutJS. I am an expert in the subject matter, however, I'm currently working a full time dev job, a part time dev job at nights, and my startup on the weekends. So, I declined. Now that I see some of the comments here about quantity over quality, I'm feeling better about my decision to turn it down.

I've authored a Packt book - it isn't of high quality.

It was a good experience, but they don't provide the resources needed (help and monetarily) for doing good work.

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#39

Post by kyrre » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 3:58 PM UTC

expert python programming is the only good packt book i have come across

Re: All Packt ebooks are $5

#40

Post by jonathant_packt » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 4:01 PM UTC

benmarks wrote: post #10

Anyone know how this shakes out for the authors from a profit standpoint?

Hi benmarks, authors continue to retain royalties and payments as per our agreement at the time of writing. Hopefully with the added benefit of seeing more happy members of the community with copies of their book :)