I think what makes SO more appealing than books to many is that SO questions are usually micro-focused on very specific tasks, and are often asked from an end-g

I think what makes SO more appealing than books to many is that SO questions are usually micro-focused on very specific tasks, and are often asked from an end-goal standpoint rather than a mechanical one. Where traditional reference has a prerequisite of a certain level of knowledge to utilize (mostly the capability to break down problems and know where those lines lay), SO users can simply ask how to accomplish their overarching goal and someone more knowledgeable can supply an answer detailing what the poster actually wants to do, with all the substeps laid out. Personally, I have a hard time retaining technical book content unless I'm immediately utilizing what I've read, which is mighty inconvenient. If I stop writing code for the time it takes to flip through a book and find the relevant bits, I've lost my flow. It's much faster to google and flip through blog posts and SO questions.