Nobody Cracks Open a Programming Book Anymore
The decline of programming books reflects a shift in how people learn to code. Sales of computer books have dropped significantly, with many bookstores reducing their inventory. This change is largely attributed to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, which provide instant answers and resources for programmers.
- ▪Sales in the 'computer book' category fell by 16.9% year over year in 2023.
- ▪The American Association of Publishers reported a 22.3% decline in the professional books segment in August 2025.
- ▪ChatGPT has over 900 million monthly active users, significantly impacting the demand for traditional programming books.
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POSTS Nobody Cracks Open a Programming Book Anymore A sad look at the state of modern programming books. FILED 2026-05-25 WORDS 873 READ 5 MIN BY CYRUS There was, for a long time, a wall. If you walked into a book store, past the magazines and the cookbooks, you’d arrive at the computer section, and along one wall there was a stretch of books with cartoon animals on their covers. A rhino for JavaScript. A camel for Perl. A python (obviously) for Python. And whatever this was: They were thick, they cost about $50, and they had titles like “Learning React” and “HTTP: The Definitive Guide”. If you wanted to learn how to do a thing on a computer, you bought one of these, took it home, and opened it up next to your computer and typed what it said until the thing worked.
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