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How Do You Keep Up with All of the Reading?

Posted by Cliff on from the too-much-to-aborb-in-a-lifetime dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "As a professional working in software, my days are full as it is. Whenever possible, though, I attempt to keep up with my technical reading, whether it be IEEE or ACM journals, conference proceedings, Slashdot, or countless other sources. The problem is, there's no way to keep up! The magazines and journals that interest me alone create more material in a year than I could ever hope to absorb, and don't even get me started on the conferences. Do you, as a software professional, consider yourself up-to-speed enough when it comes to the latest and greatest in the public domain? If so, where do you draw the line?"

9 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Reading is uncool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    President Bush is my role model.

    1. Re:Reading is uncool by magefile · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wasn't his wife a librarian? That makes it double-plus funny.

    2. Re:Reading is uncool by wcbarksdale · · Score: 3, Funny

      Absolutely untrue. Bush considers reading extremely important. No one else would have taken the time to read My Pet Goat.

    3. Re:Reading is uncool by tverbeek · · Score: 2, Funny
      President Bush is my role model.

      Bush's supposed contempt for reading is vastly overstated. As even Farenheit 911 clearly demonstrated, the president considers reading with schoolchildren to be an even higher priority than responding to ongoing coordinated air attacks on American soil.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  2. Don't read Slashdot at -1 for more free time ... by xmas2003 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Probably where this comment will be modd'ed too! ;-)

    --
    Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
  3. Ignorance is bliss! by failedlogic · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ignorance is bliss!

    'Nuff said.

    ---
    Your potential solution is osmosis theory (you know, sleep on the book and "absorb" the information). If there are any links to academic material proving its existance ... (Harvard Medical Journal and such) would be appreciated!

  4. education through defication by imsmith · · Score: 5, Funny

    it's called the crapper... it is your friend, your fortress of solitude, and the throne of knowedge.

    1. Re:education through defication by silvwolf · · Score: 3, Funny

      Leave it for the next person, of course!

      I found a print out of the /. home page in the crapper at work a few weeks ago... There's a joke in there someplace, I just can't seem to flush it out.

  5. Re:There isn't any way, cut your losses by RandomCoil · · Score: 4, Funny
    "I don't know everything, but I know where to find it when I need it"


    With thanks to Rumsfeld, the problem is not the known unknowns, for which information can be found. Rather, the problem is the unknown unknowns, those things which you not only don't know, but don't know that you don't know.

    This would argue that the key is to read the titles and abstracts of publications, but not delve into them until you know you need them.

    Yes, this entire post was just an excuse to get to play with the Rumsfeldian logic.