Re[2]: Books and a balance (was: What's up with C++ (books)?)

Bruce Hobbs <[email protected]> Mon, 30 May 2011 11:34:53 -0700
Newsgroups gmane.comp.programming.language-of-the-year
Message-ID <p06240870ca09911bed55@[192.168.1.122]>
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At 5:08 PM -0600 on 5/27/11, Gregg Irwin wrote:

>"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to
>stop reading them." -- Ray Bradbury
>
Great quote! Don't recall the source, but the last I heard was that the
Harry Potter series has given an incredible boost to young adult reading
habits that had long been in a serious nose dive. I imagine the even more
current Hunger Games trilogy has also had a very positive impact. Although
none of these are technical books I can't think of a more important age
group for the long-term future of reading.

>The choir hears you. My guess is that people on this list have more
>books than the average developer (assuming McConnell's one book per
>year metric). And it's not just developers and programming books. It's
>also not reading for reading's sake, but reading things that are worth
>reading.
>
IIRC I heard that metric first mentioned by Tom DeMarco thirty years ago.

>More than once I've had people express surprise that I've read a book
>they mention in conversation. I once had someone say to me "Wow, you
>must read a lot" when I recommended a *few* books about software
>development.
>
While conducting employment interviews for clients many years ago I can
still recall the perplexed looks of candidates when we asked what technical
books or magazines they'd read or professional organizations they belonged
to. More than a few said they expected their employer to pay for all of
that.
-- 
"Computer Science--the only profession where you can make fifty billion
dollars producing things that 'mostly' work."--Hal Burch

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      <p>At 5:08 PM -0600 on 5/27/11, Gregg Irwin wrote:<br>
<br>
&gt;&quot;You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to<br>
&gt;stop reading them.&quot; -- Ray Bradbury<br>
&gt;<br>
Great quote! Don't recall the source, but the last I heard was that the<br>
Harry Potter series has given an incredible boost to young adult reading<br>
habits that had long been in a serious nose dive. I imagine the even more<br>
current Hunger Games trilogy has also had a very positive impact. Although<br>
none of these are technical books I can't think of a more important age<br>
group for the long-term future of reading.<br>
<br>
&gt;The choir hears you. My guess is that people on this list have more<br>
&gt;books than the average developer (assuming McConnell's one book per<br>
&gt;year metric). And it's not just developers and programming books. It's<br>
&gt;also not reading for reading's sake, but reading things that are worth<br>
&gt;reading.<br>
&gt;<br>
IIRC I heard that metric first mentioned by Tom DeMarco thirty years ago.<br>
<br>
&gt;More than once I've had people express surprise that I've read a book<br>
&gt;they mention in conversation. I once had someone say to me &quot;Wow, you<br>
&gt;must read a lot&quot; when I recommended a *few* books about software<br>
&gt;development.<br>
&gt;<br>
While conducting employment interviews for clients many years ago I can<br>
still recall the perplexed looks of candidates when we asked what technical<br>
books or magazines they'd read or professional organizations they belonged<br>
to. More than a few said they expected their employer to pay for all of<br>
that.<br>
-- <br>
&quot;Computer Science--the only profession where you can make fifty billion<br>
dollars producing things that 'mostly' work.&quot;--Hal Burch<br>
</p>

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