[chris brogan] did a post called "Owners start with recipes";
But at least some thing are better off with a bit of guidance.
I had played around with d3 a bit - but it was only with Scott Murray's brilliant book that I both sat down for some extended time - and got a lot of ideas for minor tweaks, and then put some into the wild, and got more ideas by seeing other projects. All because I knew I had the "basics" in hand should I need to reboot.
The book is both a contained entity, promising that you can get through it and on to your own playtime, and a natural progression - chapters and pages flow from the barest basics to fully working and useful examples
Also probably why business books will continue to sell well - there is always a need for some handholding, just getting a consistent story and a feeling of "overview".
Not to mention consulting. Having someone who tells you that "this is the way it is done in business A and market B" makes for a good starting point.
But for both books and consulting, the difference between wasted time and world class can be hard to spot - since it depends a lot on your own situation and level;
I’ve made a mistake over and over again. I continue to believe that we don’t want recipes, that we don’t want leaders. But neither are true.
[...] If I don’t show you what I know, and if I don’t show you how to cook a “something,” you might not feel confident enough to first replicate that something, and then vary and create your own magical dish.It feels so right when you read it like that.
Not everybody is an explorer.
We can't all make our own MVC javascript framework (or we shouldn't - but that's for another rant)But at least some thing are better off with a bit of guidance.
I had played around with d3 a bit - but it was only with Scott Murray's brilliant book that I both sat down for some extended time - and got a lot of ideas for minor tweaks, and then put some into the wild, and got more ideas by seeing other projects. All because I knew I had the "basics" in hand should I need to reboot.
The book is both a contained entity, promising that you can get through it and on to your own playtime, and a natural progression - chapters and pages flow from the barest basics to fully working and useful examples
Also probably why business books will continue to sell well - there is always a need for some handholding, just getting a consistent story and a feeling of "overview".
Not to mention consulting. Having someone who tells you that "this is the way it is done in business A and market B" makes for a good starting point.
But for both books and consulting, the difference between wasted time and world class can be hard to spot - since it depends a lot on your own situation and level;
