Thursday, May 1, 2008

Still reading

It would seem that Joel Spolsky doesn't think that we programmers are reading very much any more. I question whether most of us ever really did much reading in the first place. Now, don't get me wrong, I like to visit my local Barnes and Noble and Borders book stores as much as the next geek and I certainly see many books being bought, but I don't know that many of them are actually read. So, from that perspective, I agree with Joel.

On a personal level, I'm reading more than ever before. With pastoring added to the mix, I find I'm reading more and bigger books than ever before. And they have less pictures on the pastoring side of the house ... not even an architecture diagram to break up the slabs of text! I have always been a voracious reader and will about read the print off of a really good book. (I even did a stint as a book reviewer a while back, so I fear that I am a hard core addict.)

The other thing that has changed for me is that where previously I would exclusively choose the dead tree version, I now like to get paper and PDF. This way I can leave the paper version at work and keep the PDF with me for those times when I either work at home or do a little personal geeking outside of work. (Such as at my local Starbucks!) I do find myself using the PDFs more and more, so I wonder whether I'll soon be waving goodbye to paper books. Maybe a few more years, but I see it coming.

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