> ...he/she sees ordering an Oreilly book on the topic as a valid part of the learning effort. It's easy enough to see the difference between ordering a book a

> ...he/she sees ordering an Oreilly book on the topic as a valid part of the learning effort. It's easy enough to see the difference between ordering a book and reading it. Regardless, in response to your overall point, some people can actually learn a great deal by reading a book that interests them. In addition, books can be read when working through an online tutorial is impractical -- standing on a train on your way to work, lying in bed before going to sleep, sitting on the beach or by the pool. Finally, books provide context missing from your run-of-the-mill tutorial: history and motivation for the technology (why things were built the way they were), references for further reading, etc...