Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

25 Years of O'Reilly Books

Posted by chrisd on from the from-x-to-perl-to-nursing dept.

wka writes "The year 2003 marks the 25th anniversary of publisher O'Reilly and Associates. O'Reilly has a site to mark the event. Readers can learn about the origin of the first animal covers in the time line, and read an anniversary message from Tim O'Reilly, stating his 'audacious' goal '[t]o change the world by capturing and transmitting the knowledge of innovators.'"

3 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Dover Math Books by WindowsTroll · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've always liked the O'Reilly books - good content at a decent price and very distinctive covers. Reminds me of all those math books from Dover Publications (http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-mat hematics.html) - excellent math books at rock bottom prices and very distinctive covers.

    --
    "Microsoft has made computing accessible to a population who would otherwise not be able to use computers" - B. Kernigha
  2. Re:The sun has set on O'Reilly by packeteer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The books tend to be prohibitably expensive to some. As a high school student who doesn't have enough money to lay down $50 a book it can be a hassel but thats what the library is for. I have talked to people who use books such as these to make money and they all say that the price is not an issue in a good book becuase they will help you gain far more. Personally i plan on making some money off what i have learned and then going and buying at least 10 of their books. One of the easiest ways to fix a problem on a computer is to find the book/chapter that covers your problem and read the whole thing. The "extra" knowledge that you get from these books makes it far more useful than another book where you simply learn which buttons to click in a GUI.

    Even though i prefer O'Reilly books i still read others. After i read the O'Reilly book i like to go to the library and grab a couple of competing books. Even if the quality isn't any better knowledge absorbs better when you read the same thing said in two different ways for me.

    --
    unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
  3. Yes, the bindings are bit fragile, but. . . by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    it is at least for a reason. They *open flat.*

    Not only are the "eight hundred pound gorilla" books generally inferior to the O'Reilly offerings, but you have to break their "studier" bindings to make them actually usable at the keyboard.

    I bless O'Reilly every day for this little, and for them more expensive to produce, nicety, even if the odd page does fall out of some of the older and more well thumbed volumes.

    KFG