From: jfn@... (Jeremy Nelson)
Date: 2001-03-03T06:10:02+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:11915] Why I bought a second copy of The Book.

It was the book that exposed me to ruby and caused me to absolutely fall
in love with this elegant, graceful, *fun* programming language.  Some of
my friends and loved ones look at me very strangely when they realize that
I read technical computer books (such as Programming Ruby) as "light reading".

But Programming Ruby was a "must read" and a "can't put it down" type book
for me, it just appealed to everything that I think is important in a language
reference, and a fun langauge!  So I certainly don't regret buying it.

The question I'm often left pondering is whether to buy two copies of a book,
one for home (for "light reading") and one for work (for "use").  There are
only a very few books which I have felt were essential enough to own two 
copies of, and I am pleased to say that Programming Ruby is now one of them.
But the reason why I bought another copy wasn't because I got tired of
lugging my book to and from work every day, but rather -- quite simply --
because it was open-contented.  Since the publishers and authors did some-
thing of great goodwill and kindness to the community, I don't hesitate to
return the kindness.  I am happy to say that I bought the book even though
I didn't (technically) need to.  I wasn't planning on buying a second copy,
but now that the book is open, that sealed my decision to buy another.

The best thing I can imagine to encourage the publication of open-content
books is to buy them!  Buy two of them!  Buy three and give one away to a
co-worker!  It's one thing for a publisher to believe that sales of a book
won't strategically fall after permitting its open redistribution, but it's
another to see the sales figures back it up.

Jeremy (Still learning ruby/tk, and still buying books. =)