Vaibhav emailed me yesterday with some questions about [ this blog post. ]
In truth, I have slowed my technical reading since having children in preference to non-technical books, but I’ve been getting back to Tech Books recently as I have some “catching up” to do.
I’ve had hundreds of email about this blog post so I though (with Vaibhav’s permission) I’d answer his questions “out loud” sort of speak.
I’ve been thrilled by the response and enthusiasm about “reading” technical books.
One thing that makes our profession unique is that the problems that we solve, the tools that we use, and the nature of the solutions that we provide are ALL constantly changing.
“New learning” is in integral part of being (and staying) successful in Software Development.
Here is Vaibhav ‘s email …..
Hi Joe
How are you doing? Many thanks for the many inspirational articles on your website (www.misfitgeek.com).
A big ‘thank you’ especially for the blog post – “I’m asked, how did you learn what you know ?”. I am quite sure that this article will be like a ray of light in the tunnel of darkness for those who would like to follow in your foot steps and be as technical competent as you are.
Joe, in this article you mention the following:-
<QUOTE>
For much of my your career I made myself read at least one technical book per week (if I finished early I would start another or read a business or personal development book.
</QUOTE>
Joe, can you provide some insights or tips on how are you able to finish a technical book in one week. It would be really helpful if you can answer the following questions:-
- What is the average time do you spent on a technical book, say, consisting of 500 pages or so?
- How much hours at the minimum do you devote to reading the technical book?
- Do you type in the code samples given in the book or you download the code from the associated website and execute the code?
No matter how hard I try, it takes me ever and ever to finish reading a technical book. The actions which are responsible for making my technical book reading this longer are as under:-
- I have a habit of underlining/highlighting the text in the book, which I feel is either important or is a good candidate for reference.
- I do practice the code samples given in the book, by typing the code by hand. Somehow I believe, I know this might sound stupid, that by typing the code, I am actually reinforcing the concepts in my brain.
Please advise if you follow any patterns or something to finish your technical reading faster.
Kind regards
Vaibhav Sharma
My answers……
1.) What is the average time do you spent on a technical book, say, consisting of 500 pages or so?
It’s impossible to say. 8 hours ? 100 Hours ? Some books are easy to read, others can be hard (becuase they’re poorly written, or because they are simply PACKED with data to be assimilated.
There are a couple of things that I do to try to “keep the rhythm”.
- I never EVER fail to finish a book. If I finish the first chapter, I commit to real the whole thing. There are acceptations for truly terrible books or books that I find to contain more than a little incorrect information, but this is my rule for ALL books (technical and other).
- Choose Titles Carefully. Sometimes I think authors are paid by the page. More pages doesn’t NOT necessarily mean more INFORMATION.
- Alternate. I’m between HARD books, read easy ones. After a 900 page book, read a 180 page book (or 2).
- Read EVERY NIGHT. Even if it’s only a few pages, build the habit.
- I always have 2 or 3 books going at any time. 1 Technical, 1 Fiction, and 1 Non-Fiction. Each night I read some of the Technical book FIRST ! Tech books require more brain power so I read some of a Tech book first. As I get more tired I switch to a pleasure book that has less need for detailed retention.
- Kindle – I still read Tech books on Paper but I do other reading on the Kindle as much as I can. It’s instant on and I can add to my daily reading time by getting in 15 minutes waiting for the kids, etc.
- Buy Fiction as Audio Books – I can listen at night long after my eyes get too tired to read. There are TONS and TONS of books on CD or downloadable as MP3. I can also listenwhile I mow the lawn, work around the house, etc.
2.) How much hours at the minimum do you devote to reading the technical book?
I don’t set a fixed number of hours per week. But if my week lacks progress, then the following week I will “MAKE UP” time in the following week. (Reading at night and large energy drinks go very well together. 🙂 )
3.) Do you type in the code samples given in the book or you download the code from the associated website and execute the code?
NO ! – Not the first time I read a book. For me, continuity improves my learning experience so I head the book cover to cover 1st and then I might play with the samples. (This might also be why yo have trouble finishing many of the books that you start.)
4.) I have a habit of underlining/highlighting the text in the book, which I feel is either important or is a good candidate for reference.
I used to do this in every non-fiction book that I read. Now I almost never do. I’ll only highlight something because I need to go back to it later and I want it to be easy to find later.
5.) I do practice the code samples given in the book, by typing the code by hand. Somehow I believe, I know this might sound stupid, that by typing the code, I am actually reinforcing the concepts in my brain.
For me, I don’t need to enter the code to commit the concept to memory. I will almost never take the time to hand enter a book’s source samples, but I will often download the code when it’s available. Most often, I do this so that I can try variations on the original code.
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Typed in or copy and paste
for a beginner like me typed in is the only way I can make a mistake and still find it and we learn from our mistakes hopefully
Love it, great tips ,thanks .
Thanks a lot for sharing you ways and means.
Choosing the title is of course important. Also I feel with proper background you can read a technical book fairly quickly. I mean you can finish C# books quickly once you are aware of Java or VB.NET etc.
Very motivating stuff. Thanks, Joe. I used to get a ton of reading done when I took the bus. But since I’ve had to drive to work, I’ve had trouble forcing myself to read at home. Thanks to you, I’ll give it more effort.
Hi Joe,
Interesting read. I was also interest how you managed to get through as many as 5 books a week. I had a look at your book list on this website and was really surprised at the short list of books there. It would be nice to see a slightly longer list maybe with a bit of a review or rating for each of the books. I only manage a technical book every month or two at the moment, but have been lucky with the last few and would recommend any of the following.
Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C# by Robert C Martin
Appying UML Andbook Patterns by Craig Larman
Head First Design Patterns by Freeman and Freeman
Oh, and I also enjoy my son’s favorite book – That’s not my truck.. by Fiona Watt
This gives some helpful insights.Joe,you are so original!
Hi Joe,
I have found the lessons on Web Developer 2008 Express Edition very informative. I am a retired engineer and find the challenge stimulating, as I am trying to understand ASP.Net. Both Bob, Chris and yourself must created a very impressive series of tutorials.
I have two questions on lesson #21 presented by Chris Pells (Validation). On the Validation screens he enters the CssClass Field with "ValidationMessage", since I am new to the ASP.NET community my knowledge of Style Sheets is not too good, he comments that he has written some code, I have not been able to work the code out, unfortunately we do not get to view the Source View on the Video. The second point is when the coding the VB for the Password Validation "Enter 8 characters or more", part of the VB code is not visable, once again my lack of knowledge does not help.
On the presentation by Bob Tabor (2005) Lesson #2 the alignment buttons to move the objects in a horizontal and vertical direction to change the spacing are in active. The alignment of a row of objects appears to work fine.
I do apologise for the communication with you but it is the only address I could find.
Regards
Great useful to me.thanks.
I bought 2 tech books about 500pages for many month still in reading.I’m busing between at practice code and read and nothins is good at last.So I thank the asp.net is too hard to learn.
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Hey, thanks this has been an interesting couple of posts. I am pleased to see that I have some similar approaches to you. I am a big lover of listening to audio books in bed. Im currently "reading" Neil Gaiman – American Gods. I only manage a book once every month or so. I used to get more done when I got the bus to work but driving took that time away from me. Still waiting for the Kindle over here but that peaked my interest. I don’t practice the code either but then most of the books I have read recently are theory / architecture books. Anyway thanks for posting about this side of development as its not a topic everyone can cover.
Great post. I like to read technical books too, just to know what’s new. If i know whats new i can make better choices when developing.
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I like the Safari Online site. I can search for specific subjects, add books to my bookshelf, etc. I get this free with my IEEE membership but you can also purchase a subscription I think.
my.safaribooksonline.com
I don’t have to buy as many tech books now …
Me, I feel one really should go around to trying out some of the concepts in the books, or some of the sample code as they read it.
The thing is, the first time you read the book is when you’ll pick up new concepts, and (unfortunately), an excruciating majority of tech books are full of mistakes, even the most popular, praised ones.
Without trying out at least the basics, you won’t know, and may really learn the wrong things.
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Hi Joe,
Interesting read. I was also interest how you managed to get through as many as 5 books a week. I had a look at your book list on this website and was really surprised at the short list of books there. It would be nice to see a slightly longer list maybe with a bit of review each of some books someone..i read a technical book a week,but i can’t tell us how long this wrong things
Hi Joe,
Interesting read. I was also interest how you managed to get through as many as 5 books a week. I had a look at your book list on this website and was really surprised at the short list of books there. It would be nice to see a slightly longer list maybe with a bit of review each of some books someone..i read a technical book a week,but i can’t tell us how long this wrong things
I find it a bit strange that someone would ask for help on something so subjective. I rememeber at school that some of my classmates didn’t need to revise for exams because they absorbed everything in the classes, other classmates could scan read, others had photographic memories, others needed to write notes and others were so stupid they could spend ages and still fail.
Find something that works for *you*. 🙂
I hjave followed a pattern similar to your since I started programming [back in the 1970’s!!!].
Regarding the "code samples", this definately varies by individual, but in my role as Mentor I find that manually typing in (no download, no CD, no copy/paste) really does make a big difference for most people.
There is a big difference between "understanding the concept" and being able to sit down at a computer and writing a program that utilizes the information effectively.
VERY VERY few people who "just read", can sit down at a computer the following month, and create a program based solely on the information they have retained.
Great stuff Joe!
Some people can read and obsorb more than others. Some fortunate people have photographic memories along with speed reading skills. I’m not any of the mentioned.
I can’t image drinking a energy drink at night I would not get any sleep.
I learned to program when i was very young by downloading source code and breaking it.. Thats how i go about learning new frameworks, languages, etc
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