{"id":982,"date":"2010-07-02T15:33:21","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T22:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=982"},"modified":"2013-08-04T21:42:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-05T01:42:57","slug":"the-importance-of-always-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/the-importance-of-always-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Always Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been awhile since I wrote a book review.<\/p>\n

There is one coming soon, but I wanted to talk about why it has been so long.<\/p>\n

Simple answer\u2026 I stopped reading.<\/p>\n

What happened?\u00a0 Well, I got caught up with switching jobs twice.\u00a0 Lots of different things going on.\u00a0 I started a running program, etc\u2026 etc\u2026 excuse\u2026 excuse.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t following my own advice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is really important to take a moment every once in awhile, when you feel like you are off track or not reaching your goals, to reassess your priorities and goals and figure out what you need to get back on track.<\/p>\n

\"CodeIncomplete\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You have to set a schedule<\/h2>\n

That is primarily where I failed and that is how I am succeeding now again.\u00a0 At one point I was reading through books about 2 a month, but pretty soon a few months passed by without one book read.<\/p>\n

When I was successful at reading it was because I had set up a schedule of reading every day for so much time.<\/p>\n

The simple matter of it is, as humans we are not good at making good choices about priorities<\/a> without explicitly planning them out.<\/p>\n

Now that I have set up a schedule of reading a minimum of 30 minutes each day, I am making progress again, and much faster than I thought.<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t you being a little strict?<\/h2>\n

You may think that just reading blogs is enough to keep up with the information stream<\/a>, and it may be, but it probably isn\u2019t going to really expand your mind like a book will.<\/p>\n

Why I recommend reading technical books (although, I would argue a book on people skills and other self-improvement books should also be mixed in):<\/p>\n

Breadth of knowledge will increase.<\/h4>\n

You will learn more about things and understand more of what is available to you even if you do not employ all the practices and technologies in the books you read.<\/p>\n

Depth of knowledge.<\/h4>\n

Sometimes drilling down into an API or deep into a technique can help you truly master a technology or practice way more than hacking out code or consulting APIs to just find what you need to know.<\/p>\n

Motivation.<\/h4>\n

This one is a surprise to most people, but what you read is what you are excited about, not the other way around.<\/p>\n

Try it if you don\u2019t believe me.\u00a0 Pick any topic and start reading about it.\u00a0 You will become passionate about that topic.<\/p>\n

If you want to be a better software developer, read about software development.<\/p>\n

Reputable source of authority when influencing decisions.<\/h4>\n

You can have the best idea in the world but if your only authority is yourself, it doesn\u2019t hold much credibility.\u00a0 It is much more effective to say, \u201cI think we should do it this way.\u00a0 In Code Complete<\/a>, Steve McConnell<\/a> says\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Unconscious knowledge absorption.<\/h4>\n

I have always been amazed by how much information I picked up from reading than what I was conscious of knowing.<\/p>\n

Many of my blog posts will echo things I have read in Code Complete<\/a>, or Clean Code<\/a>, or any number of other books I have read, which I do not even consciously recall.<\/p>\n

Sometimes when I write code, I intrinsically know it is the right way to do it, because of an unconscious conditioning.\u00a0 (Make sure you read good books or you will have the negative aspect of this effect.)<\/p>\n

My little tip<\/h2>\n

One great way to get your reading done, and to stay in shape at the same time, is to do it on a treadmill.<\/p>\n

I have been doing this for awhile now and it really makes me feel like I am using my time wisely.<\/p>\n

You can just walk on the treadmill, set a little incline to burn some extra calories, and after awhile you\u2019ll forget you are walking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been awhile since I wrote a book review. There is one coming soon, but I wanted to talk about why it has been so long. Simple answer\u2026 I stopped reading. What happened?\u00a0 Well, I got caught up with switching jobs twice.\u00a0 Lots of different things going on.\u00a0 I started a running program, etc\u2026…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7215,14560,1934,5895],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-career","category-language","category-self-improvement"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Importance of Always Reading<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Five reasons why it's important to 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