Most IT Books Are Waste of Your Time

Preamble

What have you used in school as a learning material? The books! Exactly!

When it comes to learning material, books have always held a significant role. From our school days, we have been ingrained with the idea that books are the primary source of knowledge. As a college student embarking on my first course, I found myself on a quest for the best books to learn about various IT topics. I delved into Java, Python, C++, DevOps, exploring books from different publishers and devouring countless articles on “must-read books to become an exceptional engineer,” among other resources.

At that time, I firmly believed in the notion that books were the ultimate repositories of truth. However, I soon realized that the world of IT operates on an entirely different paradigm, where the traditional, conservative education system does not necessarily apply. The disparity between IT and other domains is akin to the differences between planets, with distinct gravitational forces, landscapes, and soil types.

Consequently, I found myself confronted with a significant challenge…

But at first, I will be grateful if you support me on Patreon! Thanks.

Let’s proceed.

Most books are just a repeat of documentation!

Yes. Here we are. I could complete my monologue here, but let’s dive a bit deeper.

Throughout my journey towards becoming a highly skilled engineer, I dived into numerous IT books. But each time I picked up a book, I couldn’t shake off this feeling of being dumbfounded. It felt like I was engaging in something utterly useless, wasting my time and hard-earned cash. Yep, I had to shell out a significant amount of money to get my hands on those books, and it’s not something I easily forget.

By the time I reached my fourth Java book, written by a different author, it finally hit me. Something was seriously off. I came to the realization that I was essentially reading official documentation with some added comments from the author, all for a hefty price of $35! (Well, to be honest, I didn’t actually spend 35 bucks, I just… You know…). But regardless, it doesn’t change the fact that these books were utterly devoid of any real value. Just think about the disappointment felt by people who genuinely forked over their money for those publications.

This man bought printed official documentation for full price.

In my head, all such book-printing processes look like:

1. Guy wants to earn money.
2. He copies documentation of whatever technology.
3. Bring it to the book format.
4. Add some comments to make it not look like a fool copy of documentation.
5. Publish it.
6. People who think that this books worse something purchase them.
7. PROFIT.

But the worst thing in this situation — people spend their invaluable time on something that values nothing, all while believing they are on the right track. It’s a frustrating realization.

And let’s not even get started on the issue of these books becoming outdated almost as soon as they hit the shelves. Just as an author publishes their shiny new book about Python 3.9.8, the software world moves forward, and Python 3.11.12 is already on the horizon. It’s a constant game of catch-up, where the information within these books quickly becomes obsolete.

Are all IT books are bad? How to choose the right one?

Are all IT books inherently bad? How can we differentiate the valuable ones from the rest? It’s important to note that while the majority of books may fall into the less valuable category, there are certainly exceptions worth considering. Let’s outline an algorithm to help with the selection process, using some examples.

If a book:

• Consist of information you can find literally by simple search on Google.
• Contains an excessive number of pages, potentially to justify a higher price in bookstores.
• Try to teach you technology, that got regular updates like programming language, tools, etc.

High probability, this book has no value at all.

However, if a book meets one of the following conditions:

• Explores general concepts and principles with a longer expiration date, such as distributed architecture principles or new perspectives on paradigms.
• It is authored by someone well-known and respected within the IT community.
• Incorporates a personal touch or unique perspective from the author
• Introduces fresh insights that haven’t been widely presented before, or offers a comprehensive compilation of existing thoughts and principles.

Maybe this book can make your day. Anyway, all books I usually recommend follows at least 1–2 principles above.

For example,

• Code Complete — Steve McConnell.
• Elegant Objects — Yegor Bugayenko.
• Project Phoenix… — Kevin Behr.

If you're familiar with these books, you probably will agree that they are all follow the principles of a good IT book I have declared earlier. They don’t teach you a technology that will exceed in a couple of years, but give you a mindset of a qualified software engineer.

Oh… So, all the situation looks like this:

Summarizing

Don’t waste your time and money on the printed version of the official documentation you can free on the Internet. Don’t let the parasites earn money by misleading you, that the books are better sources than the internet.

Instead, I encourage you to seek truly valuable books that go beyond teaching you specific technologies. Search for books that focus on nurturing your mindset and shaping you into a well-rounded engineer.

Thanks for reading!

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