Larger (regional) public libraries were where I'd be able to find a pretty good variety of books about computing. I'd pick them up regardless of subject, e.g.,

Larger (regional) public libraries were where I'd be able to find a pretty good variety of books about computing. I'd pick them up regardless of subject, e.g., the APL book despite having no access to APL-capable machines, or a text on expert systems despite having no AI fundamentals. It was fun and a little mysterious, and I did a lot of on-paper coding. It was also easy to get a good C programming book for more practical stuff. Sometimes I'd scour BBSs for a little info, mostly about BBS programming in pascal. It was usually faster to go to the library, though, since the Fidonet transfers were irregular and usually a day between. I'm not sure if having Google, or even a more developed internet, would have been better. I spent a lot of time "inventing" things, which, I think, really ingrained the basics into my head. It was, in a way, disappointing to learn later that some data structure was actually old and well researched by people with 20 years on me. But those are the ones that will always stick with me.