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No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

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Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#121

Post by rr808 »

roadside_picnic wrote: post #66
whenc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As an avid reader (and sometimes writer) of technical books, it's sad to see the, perhaps inevitable, decline of the space. I still remember in the early 2000s Barnes and Noble would still have massive shelf space devoted to every technical topic you could imagine. I could spend hours just exploring what languages and topics there were I didn't even know existed. Powell's Technical Books used to be an entire separate…

> told me it was even more incredible during the height of the dotcom boom

I was a developer in the 90s before Netscape even came out. I didn't have a computer at home and dialup barely existed. If you wanted to do computer stuff you had to read. If you wanted to try a library you had to buy a CD from a bookstore or mail in an order which would get posted to you.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#122

Post by fruitplants »

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.

Does anyone know if Springer has any subscription discounts, access via library, etc? ACM does not include Springer.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#123

Post by stonecharioteer »

Manning wins points for giving me DRM free books and for their website. It's really nice and I like reading the books on it. So much so that I wish I could sync pdfs to the Web progress.

Good job Manning!

I hate the UX of O'reilly. Great books, but horrible HX. That company seems to have people who do not dogfood.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#125

Post by zippyman55 »

marai2 wrote: post #107
roadside_picnic wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an avid reader (and sometimes writer) of technical books, it's sad to see the, perhaps inevitable, decline of the space. I still remember in the early 2000s Barnes and Noble would still have massive shelf space devoted to every technical topic you could imagine. I could spend hours just exploring what languages and topics there were I didn't even know existed. Powell's Technical Books used to be an entire separate…

Same with the Stanford university bookstore. Was one of the better bookstores in the Bayarea. Used to have a whole room of technical, science, math books. It too is a shadow of its former self. So sad.

I cry when I visit the Stanford Bookstore. In the 1980's if I needed any technical book, it was there. Now, just stupid clothing.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#126

Post by zippyman55 »

seg_lol wrote: post #82
roadside_picnic wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an avid reader (and sometimes writer) of technical books, it's sad to see the, perhaps inevitable, decline of the space. I still remember in the early 2000s Barnes and Noble would still have massive shelf space devoted to every technical topic you could imagine. I could spend hours just exploring what languages and topics there were I didn't even know existed. Powell's Technical Books used to be an entire separate…

The UW bookstore in Seattle like many big science schools had a wondrous technical book section. Isles of Springer. The bookstore itself is a shadow of its former shelf.

Yes, I was so disappointed with my visit last year - not yet hopeless, but close to it. Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle is a better place.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#127

Post by crystal_revenge »

gruntledfangler wrote: post #10

At one time I worked at a research institute. It had a huge library that was only partially filled. One of the directors wanted to buy every developer their own Safari subscription. The cost was quoted at around $4K/mo IIRC. I pointed out that it would be far more cost–effective to simple let us request hard copies of whatever books we wanted, and then they would just stay in the library. No one worked remotely at th…

I've worked in similar scenarios and advocated for the Safari subscription. The most obvious problem with the physical book solution is that not everyone can read the same book at the same time. In my experience it's very common that, because some topic is particularly relevant for the team, many people will want to read the same book. At the same time, you do not want 30 copies of a book that was read by everyone 3 years ago sitting on the shelf.

And, as far as expenses go for a research institute, $4k/mo is very inexpensive.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#129

Post by guiambros »

diab0lic wrote: post #115
fluorinerocket wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I on the other hand can't stand PDFs. They take up valuable screen space, it is annoying to scroll to the sections you need. Yeah yeah some PDFs have the side navigation thing. Most don't With a book I can put in those little flags to bookmark sections, I can easily riffle the pages and scan for the chapter I need, I can hand write in the margins I often need 2 or 3 books open to different sections, I like keeping th…

I’m similar to you. I recently went as far as to buy a pdf for an out of print book and then paid to have it printed and bound. I suppose a remarkable would be another route but… they are pricey.

Same; avid reader of printed books here. I have more pdfs I can count (most coming from Humble Bundle impulse buying), but nothing beats physical books for me.

I got a remarkable pro, and it's just slightly better than screen. Being able to annotate books is actually a welcomed addition, and the screen is pretty decent. But flipping screen is slow (compared to a printed book), and going back and forth between pages is a hassle. Until we have the speed of a tablet (read: instant), with the screen quality of an e-ink, I don't think I'll voluntarily retire printed books.

Now, I have an O'Reilly subscription (two actually, through school and ACM), but the app is sadly horrendous, as OP mentioned. Hard to believe this is actually their core business.

Re: No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

#130

Post by throw2312321 »

fluorinerocket wrote: post #84
cultofmetatron wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love pragprog but I think nonfiction books in dead tree form is going away. YEs, I know there are people who will pay for a physical book, just not enough to make for a profitable business. I myself spend around 200-300 usd on books every year. but I haven't bought a physical book in almost a decade. a pdf is perfectly fine. just sell it to me without DRM and have content thats worth the premium over wading through…

I on the other hand can't stand PDFs. They take up valuable screen space, it is annoying to scroll to the sections you need. Yeah yeah some PDFs have the side navigation thing. Most don't With a book I can put in those little flags to bookmark sections, I can easily riffle the pages and scan for the chapter I need, I can hand write in the margins I often need 2 or 3 books open to different sections, I like keeping th…

I assume you read a lot. How do you consume books, and how do you organize knowledge?
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