&gt; reading a book from beginning to end (which I can&#x27;t do anyway)<p>This doesn&#x27;t concern you, in the slightest?<p>The benefit to books is that the best books are significantly better curated than the best pages on the internet, especially as the topic gets increasingly specialized or esoteric. Sure, you shouldn&#x27;t buy the JavaScript API if you want to look up documentation or skip stackoverflow if you want to quickly grasp a concept, and I&#x27;m not saying you should buy a textbook every time you want to learn a new library, but mastering most technical subjects are only accessible from a thorough explanation. Good books have the most thorough explanation.