4 ms·

Has O'Reilly really been solid for a while, though? I realized recently that the last O'Reilly book I cared about was "Programming Collective Intelligence" (and

Has O'Reilly really been solid for a while, though? I realized recently that the last O'Reilly book I cared about was "Programming Collective Intelligence" (and that one is flaky) - I haven't actually /liked/ an O'Reilly book since Perl was big. O'Reilly has a lot of reputation, but I've been much happier with No Starch (_Land of Lisp_, etc.), Morgan Kaufman, etc., and anything Brian Kernighan has ever touched. (Either he has the CS midas touch, or he's the world's best tech writer. I'm thinking BOTH.) My wife is currently using my Unix manuals to weigh down recently-glued carpet on our basement steps though. (and I've wondered about it because I feel inclined to spell-check "O'Reilly" every single time)

mahmud 16y ago
In terms of technical publications, Morgan Kaufman, Prentice Hall and Addison Wesley are far more superior. But O'Reilly has Tim's personal brand behind it, and he has proven himself to be a visionary by betting on Unix early, then noticing the Free Software movement and fully embracing it. Then going on to godfather two editions of the web (bubble.) Think of O'Reilly as the "Virgin" airlines of Richard Branson, compared to the classics, like British Airways or Lufthansa. Yes, I too double check the spelling often.