Ja, You can also try a safari subscription - http://safari.oreilly.org if only as a means to sample a wide assortment of technical books to see which are most worth buying in hardcopy.
Over the past 15 years I've spent a small fortune on books and paid subscriptions, and there is an educational value to them. But most of that was due to my bias that paying for something made it more likely to be worth the price. Now things have changed: (1) I realized that the main price for learning is personal commitment - nobody can make you learn something, and nobody can prevent you; (2) There is a heck of a lot of great stuff on the Internet today compared to even a few years ago and it's easy to find with Google; (3) There is an undeniably benevelovent and learning-conducive quality to free opensource materials compared to money-making products (but you have to be ready to appreciate it). More practically, when you have a few tons of books it makes relocation an expensive pain in the back. So I decided to donate my $30,000 library (of mostly technical books) to the nearest public library and start traveling light. I recommend certain "learning to learn" materials, such as Photoreading and the Memory Optimizer from Learning Strategies (http://www.learningstrategies.com) even if you have to pay for them. But for Photoreading all you need is the $10 book, not the $250 audio course and both courses are probably available in slightly used condition on Amazon at huge discounts. A great way to learn is to teach. In that sense many authors have already been paid in full when the final draft has been produced and anything else is a bonus. A superlative teacher, like anyone else who really adds value will be able to attract many students (customers) who will voluntarily make contributions (the shareware model). Instead of buying a lot of books, my preference is to get a good laptop and Internet connection and rely on free, online resources (including this mail group) for 99% of my educational content. Sure, its partly a matter of principle. It's also cost-effective. Long live the Internet and long live OpenSource! Tristram Nefzger -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
