To the extent that the recession is to blame, I think the cause is that tech books are largely a luxury item. So much really good information and support is ava

To the extent that the recession is to blame, I think the cause is that tech books are largely a luxury item. So much really good information and support is available online, and often your $60 investment gets you flawed or out-of-date information. Plus you can't search or copy+paste from dead trees. I love programming books, but I can do without buying them, for the most part, without a significant impact.