How many tech books do you read each year?

Question

Lots of book are really thick,that makes me tired to fully read the whole book.So how many do you read each year or each month?

Answer 1

Last year I read eighteen:

http://ianfnelson.com/blog/tech-book-round-up-2008/

Answer 2

On average I read a book each month. Every two years or so when a major paradigm shift is coming this goes up to two books each month. However, as you mention some books are really thick and 40% of 8 out of 10 books is just fill and chit chat so the author can make money. After a while you get used to skipping or skimming these parts and thereby making it easier to get through a book a month.

Cheers /Henrik

Answer 3

I would aim for 12.

One a month sounds about average.

I usually try to alternate between an 'improvement' book and a technical book.

Also try to read at least one useful article online a day, one that actually makes you think.

Answer 4

I probably read 5 indepth (cover to cover) and skimmed or partially read another 10-15.

Answer 5

i would say around 2-3 per year if we're counting from page 1 until the index pages :)

As most of the books i would just skim through get what i want and keep em for reference later.

Answer 6

For myself I formulated a "list of fundamental knowledge books" and started to slowly read (and re-read) them in mid 2008. I discovered that even I read any of list's books before - reading it again gave me some more deeper insights and understandings of previously "mystique topics". This year i will continue this practice - i like it very much (even some of books really heavy and thick).

As for answer - i read 4 =) (half year ;) ).

I prefer not to spend my time on tech books which describes some points of new "fotm" tech. I read such things like Richter's "CLR via C# 2.0" or Cormen-Rivest-Stein-Leisersons "Introductions to Algorithms 2ed".

Fundamentals never become out of date =)

Answer 7

A lot. On average, I tend to buy one or two per month, depending on what strikes my interest (Amazon can be a dangerous place for me). Of those, I read maybe a third of those from cover to cover. The rest wind up getting skimmed and I read a few chapters of interest.

In addition, my employer provides a subscription to books24x7, which gives me access to many books online. I use this resource constantly for research and will occasionally read parts of a book online.

At any given time, I usually have at least five books in the process of being read.

Answer 8

Technical books are good for keeping as a reference but generally programming techniques change so rapidly the best way to learn is following online tutorials, documentation and projects similar to yours. If you're looking for an answer to a problem typically these aren't found in tech books so you'll need to search on sites like this and other technical forums. Also tech books are quite expensive.