This is a good suggestion and also mirrors my own experience with buying books. Once I got myself past the sticker shock (why are all of the books about things I am interested in somehow expensive fucking textbooks?!), it really started giving me an incredibly high return on investment. That being said, I think it's criminally malicious to lock knowledge away behind a paywall. Free is a good start.
I think it's criminally malicious to
lock knowledge away behind a paywall.
Free is a good start.
Fapjacks, you sound very generous with the fruits of other people's labor. I assume you make your housing, transportation, computer hardware, clothing, and other possessions you earned freely available to others--please publish your address so we can take advantage of your largesse. Here in the States, many of the Framers agreed with you regarding intellectual property (I think Jefferson was one.)
I am not that giving. The USA decided to balance the incentive to create against the public interest, so they decided to create a "paywall" in the form of patent and copyright protection (said protection having gone way, way overboard in the last 30 years, IMHO). I support this balance (and yes, I have given away much IP as well as charged for other IP I developed).
I am perfectly willing to support those who work hard enough at something that they are willing to take a chance on the open market by charging for it. No one forces me to buy it, and like Austen Allred, I feel grateful for the opportunity.
Your point is totally invalidated by "ALL THE RESEARCH IS TAXPAYER FUNDED", including corporate R&D in the form of industry subsidies. If I'm paying for it, fuck your "IP".
I can echo both of your experiences. I'm mostly self taught as a software engineer. I switch to mathematics as a major after my first year in Computer Science. I did take intro to programming classes and other computer science related math courses but never got pass that stuff. Without books I would have huge gaps in my knowledge. But I'm a technical book addict. I've often ended up in some trouble at the end of the month due to buying to many $50+ books. But my career depended on it.
I like the fact that books give a good overview of subjects. Even if you don't remember the little details, at least knowing something exists helps when you look for a solution to a problem. That's the biggest drawback I see whit just trying to learn online from blogs and free books.
But I will say there are a few really good book on that lists. Some that I've paid a lot to get.
