Ask HN: Who reads all of the constantly published software book?

1 point

4 years ago

Almost every week I see new software books being published, sometimes on extremely niche topics. A good number of them get outdated within the year it was published.

At the same time, every workplace I worked at had some books, but mostly it was books-as-decor or ones that the management liked the title of (The Lean Startup, agile/scrum ones, etc). And no one ever read them.

When it comes to the software engineers I know of, a few mention they do read books, but AFAIK, it's mostly hobby reading and almost never work related (I think the closest I got was the 4h workweek or The Lean Startup).

So who is the target audience reading all these books? Is there actual demand and I just happened to miss all those hidden readers who churn through swats of these technical writings on their free time? Are they all published just for the sake that the person in question becomes a "published author"?

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