Never Buy Another Tech Book Again!

Chris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:05:05 +0000

Tech books are expensive! Averaging between $30 and $50 bucks a piece, they are equivalent to a month or two of quality shared web hosting. And if the price wasn’t bad enough, they have a limited shelf life. You only have a certain amount of time to read and digest them before they become door stops. New techniques are discovered and new versions are released which make all your current or old books out dated and potentially irrelevant.

I have discovered a better way to gain access to the latest tech books for a fraction of the cost. In this post I will introduce you to Safari Books Online and what it has to offer.

Safari Books Online

Image by iogi via Flickr

I’m sure most techies are familiar with the O’Reilly publishing company. O’Reilly is behind all those books with the creepy black and white animals on the cover. In 2001 they released Safari Books Online which is an online service you can subscribe to and get access to tech and business books online. The concept is straight forward, for a set price per month you get access to their complete online library of books. You also get a certain number of download credits each month which allow you to download chapters of books.

When I first heard of the service I have to admit I was skeptical. I prefer flipping through the pages of a book instead of searching through a PDF file or some other computer format. But, I figured I would give it a shot to see what there was to see.

Features

With a Safari subscription you have access to over 6000 titles online. You also get access to O’Reilly Rough Cuts and Short Cuts. Rough Cuts are pre-published manuscripts on the newest technologies, so you can be the first kid on your block to learn the latest and greatest before it’s officially published. Short cuts are short publications aimed at solving daily problems and are only available online.

In addition to the books, you also have access to thousands of hours of expert-led instruction videos. The subjects range from PHP to CSS and beyond. So for those visual learners out there, Safari Books Online has something for you to. And as I stated above you also have download credits you can use to download book chapters and complete books in PDF format. Finally, Safari subscribers get up to 35% off purchasing books in print through O’Reilly. Everybody loves a discount!

Safari accounts allow you to search through the entire library for specific titles or subjects. You can also search within a given book which beats flipping through an index any day. As you read you can make notes of things you want to remember and save where you leave off with bookmarks.

Pricing

There are 2 ways you can subscribe to Safari Books Online: Safari Library and Safari Bookshelf. A library subscription gives you unlimited access to all the features I mentioned above for just $42.99 a month or $472.89 a year. So, for about the same price as buying one tech book a month, you get access to over 6000. Not a bad deal.

The bookshelf subscription option is a much more limited account type. You can only read full text of up to 10 books of your choice each month. You also don’t have access to videos, Rough Cuts, or the full book downloads. But, it costs about half the price of a library subscription: $22.99 per month or $252.99 per year. So for those of you that don’t use books all the much and don’t care about video, this might be the better option for you.

If the price still seems a bit too high for you personally, you might be able to get your company to help pay for it. Check out Safari Books Online for Workgroups.

Overall Opinion

I think the Safari Books Online service is great! I’ve been an on and off user now for a couple of years and I couldn’t be happier. The cost of the library plan seemed a bit high to me at first, but after putting it in perspective it turns out to be a great deal. I can find what I’m looking for faster with online searching and I don’t have a bunch of door stops taking up shelf space when I’m done.

Another cool thing that I’ll mention is they just released an iPhone app. The app lets you view chapters and books in PDF format that you have used your credits to download. Although you can’t yet read books online using the app, I think it’s a step in the right direction and I’m excited to see where it goes.

See for yourself what Safari Books Online can do by signing up for a free trial.

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For those of you who have been meaning to go back to school for your MBA but don’t have the money or interest in going back to school, check out the Personal MBA. They just released their 2008 reading list and it’s looks great.

Field-Tested Books 2008 Edition

Chris — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:34:51 +0000

The talented people over at Coudal Partners have released the 2008 edition of their Field-Tested Books (FTB) reading list. Head over to their site and check it out.