Ask HN: Developers how much you read books?

#1

Post by haidrali » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 5:16 AM UTC

How much you developers read besides reading tutorials & technology news. I am a developer and its been a long ago that i ever read a Book/Novel/Fiction even physical newspaper. It seems like developers (like me) have lost this good habit

Thanks

Re: Ask HN: Developers how much you read books?

#2

Post by johnnymonster » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 5:19 AM UTC

I've never been much of a reader for the entirety of my life. I loved working math and logic problems even at a young age. tearing apart computers, working on cars with my dad, and learning new mechanical skills, never from a book. My parents really never pushed me to read very much. Now in my thirties I find myself only reading tech related news, source code and skimming documentation.

Re: Ask HN: Developers how much you read books?

#3

Post by DevFactor » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 5:30 AM UTC

Daily.

Before enrolling at the UW, I was coding thanks to C# Primer Plus and PHP & MySQL web development.

Educational books have provided me employment opportunities (first coding job @ 100m+ company @ age 16 from self teaching) && recreational books have really changed the way I think about the world and problems (outliers, smartcuts).

Books inspired me to write, and publish my first coding book and more recently inspired me to start a free educational channel: https://www.youtube.com/devfactor

There is so much you can distill into a book, its difficult to match with other mediums.

Re: Ask HN: Developers how much you read books?

#4

Post by peelle » Tue, Feb 24, 2015, 3:53 AM UTC

I read daily. I'm always part of the way through something, and I try to finish at least 1 fiction book a month, and a non fiction ever 2-3 months.

Re: Ask HN: Developers how much you read books?

#5

Post by jugglebird » Tue, Feb 24, 2015, 6:54 PM UTC

All the time. I usually have a couple of fiction books going at any given time and finish 1-2 a week. I'll pick up the occasional magazine and often have a non-fiction or technical book going as well.