I'd open a bookstore/cafe that sells tech and engineering books. We'd run tech classes in a space in the back, with a discount for vets and artists looking to change careers. I'd live in the apartment above the store, with a garden on the roof. The wifi would be phenomenal.
I did that after saving enough money in Silicon Valley back in 2008. I lived on the top floor. It was called USA Books and was the 1st English only bookstore in Vietnam. Naturally it was tech heavy http://wordhcmc.com/news-latest/in-the-papers/usa-books. Every month we d host a get together and do a storytelling event like the Moth. Good times :)
Mechanical Engineer here (I feel like HN tends to forget about us...). Most of the higher level stuff is pretty hard to find online, especially for heat and mass transfer or fluids. Most other mechanical or electrical engineers I know keep their textbook with them at work either as a reference, to look for some derivations, or to find some empirical data/results.
Mmm. I'm trying to learn ME a bit this year. Wrestling with endless Solidworks tutorials. Buying stuff just to pull it apart. Working towards a relatively ambitious goal in little modular steps. Trying to figure out how to buy off the shelf and have as little as possible in the way of custom parts. It's really interesting but seems very cross-disciplinary... the manufacturing process, cost, material properties knowledge, modeling processes and so on seem quite distinct, with no real high level overview to assist. Then there's the Solidworks project management ontology which differs from git and seems to play bad with it. Then there's the fact I live in China and know no ME's, and that everything I do in industry occurs in Chinese so I am learning at least two names for everything. A real adventure... :)
I find reading print much more enjoyable, but I have a hard time quantifying why.
Maybe a break from the eye strain of staring at screens? Nostalgia?
Also, the book form leads to a different way of engaging with information, even if its digital. When I look at technical books on Amazon, I always read the table of contents first. Gives an idea of topics covered and overall organization, and thus how the information is connected in the author's mind. That adds value over just Googling and following various links in a haphazard fashion to learn about a topic.
So do I. What I particularly like with print is let's say when remembering a specific formula, I would remember it better by picturing its exact position in the printed book. It works even better with handwritten "cheat sheet" since you can also use some creativity to make it stand out more (borders, color,...), and thus remember it better.
There are quite a few great books on stable information. To name a couple: Knuth's Art of Programming, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Advanced Systems Programming in the Unix Environment, the dragon book.
Why should I own them physically? Well, I find physical books more comfortable to read than digital ones. They lack text search, but being able to have it open on my desk next to my computer is handy. Not to mention the sleep hygiene issues from using a screen before going to sleep.
Not all development is frameworks and webdev and many "tech" books aren't necessarily just programming. I'd consider half of my math books to be "tech", as that is how they end up being applied.
For some things, books are just better. I can mark the book, dog ear the pages, and the physical interaction that a book provides just seems (for me) to aid in retention. They also serve one purpose and I'm not as likely to get distracted on HN while trying to learn.
Although it's changing, books for me has largely been about someone taking the time to actually plan out, organize and go into detail on the topic. Blogs and release notes are good for staying up to date or for figuring out a work around. They "used" to be not so good at the getting started part.
Fundamentals are still better off starting with a book before moving to online imo.
"Although it's changing, books for me has largely been about someone taking the time to actually plan out, organize and go into detail on the topic."
I agree, except I don't think it's changing, because the end artifact of "plan out, organize and go into detail on the topic" I would still call a "book", regardless of how its delivered.
What I meant by changing is that online content has gone up in quality since the introduction of MOOC's and the realization that decent money can be made from training. What used to be semi-random collections of tips and tricks have turned into full blown courses.
From my experience, if you want to do anything complicated in C, it's necessary to buy books. Some languages have good online resources but many don't.
Some books will remain relevant. A quick glance at my bookshelf of old but relevant books: K&R The C Programming Language, Programming with POSIX Threads (it's from the 90s but pthreads really hasn't changed), Algorithms, and Expert C Programming.
Spend 9 hours a day looking at an electronic display. Hands on paper, leaf scrolling. API reference books get dated pretty quickly, but more theoretical or conceptual references hold up pretty well in a collection.
Hmm, no. many of the classics of compsci are not available to read online, and there are even some which are practically impossible to find even as shitty scanned pdfs
Here are a few of the books on my bookshelf that are not available as ebooks for purchase and would probably be very hard to find pirated copies of:
The Psychology of Computer Programming
The Paralation Model
Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction
Object-Oriented Programming in Common Lisp
Computer-Aided Financial Analysis (Miller)
Probability, Statistics, and Queueing Theory (Allen)
The Brain Makers
Note that I sold off most of my library and regularly sell books once I am done reading them, so this is just a small sample of the material that you will not find online, that I have personally read. Also all the older/rare books I have borrowed from/read at my local public library (public libraries have a surprising amount of computer books), and the university libraries I have been associated with earlier.
Whoever discounts computer science books today because "you can find it all online" does so out of a very deep ignorance of computer science. Between Google Books and the Internet Archive's scanning project digital copies do exist, but are inaccessible.
I have five bookshelves full of computer books (and other kinds of books, too), and I actually have people that borrow my books. In a way, it's like a miniature, friends-only "library". For all the things people say about print books, they're still useful.
Also my dream. I already have a collection of about 5000 or so books taking over my house. There are bookshelves on every wall. If I ever cash out of the startup game I'm setting up a private membership library / bookstore. I already have the building picked out and my own collection will be the foundation.
