Code, prompts, and... books? Why reading is your analog superpower in the age of AI

· 16 min read
Man reading a book with a robot

Man reading a book with a robot (Illustration by @misshoneybug)

The best developers read books

The best developers I know read books. Real books. Not just tutorials, YouTube videos, or podcasts. They sit down and read.

Crazy, right?

Why read 300 pages when AI gives you answers in seconds?

Why flip pages when AI writes your code?

Books feel tl;dr (too long; didn’t read). Knowledge gets old before you finish chapter one. Reading feels like wasting your valuable time but what if the opposite is true? What if reading is actually a more important habit than ever for developers?

The reading gap

People have stopped reading books. Numbers prove it:

  1. Half of adults in the U.S. don’t read or listen to books at all

  2. About 50% of U.S. survey respondents hadn’t touched a book in over a year

This is true for developers as well. Stack Overflow’s data shows a consistent decline in book-based learning:

Year Learning to code from books
2022 54.5 %
2023 51.8 %
2024 50.3 %

This is astonishing! Every year fewer developers open a technical book. And our career is all about learning new things and technologies.

However, the declining trend and the wide gap opens new opportunities for those who do read.

Successful leaders read a lot

❝

“No man was ever wise by chance” - Seneca

Look at successful tech leaders. They share one habit: they read a lot.

And what do they read?

I bet Mark Zuckerberg isn’t reading “My journey from junior to senior developer in 18 months” or Sundar Pichai isn’t scrolling through “This easy trick will 10x your productivity!”

They read plain old books. Here are some examples:

Tech leader Reading habits
Satya Nadella (Microsoft) Life long learner who can read 15 books at a time to flex his brain.
Bill Gates (Co-founder of Microsoft) Reads ~50 books per year and at least one hour per week day.
Tim Cook (Apple) Regular nonfiction reader. Reads to enrich his mind and unwind.
Sundar Pichai (Google) Shares book recommendations and credits his success to the books he has read. Spends evenings reading.
Jeff Bezos (Amazon) Known for slow, deep reading to analyze ideas. Has quoted books in shareholder letters.
Andy Jassy (Amazon) Champions “Learn and be curious” as a core leadership trait.
Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) Has passion for reading diverse genres In 2015, he set a public goal to read a new book every two weeks.

Isn’t it fascinating that people building our AI-powered future spend hours with humanity’s oldest information technology?

Even Steve Jobs, though not a prolific reader, was known to be influenced by titles like Autobiography of a Yogi and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.

If your day is all debugging and shipping, that’s great. But books? Books make you dangerous long-term.

Beat half the field by reading one book

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“The average software developer, for example, doesn’t own a single book on his or her work, and hasn’t even read one.” - Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, Peopleware

The growing reading gap between readers and non-readers creates a genuine opportunity for you.

I believe that people who read software engineering books are better developers. And you need to read just one book per year to beat half of all developers. But there’s more:

Data from Tom Corley’s research shows that 85% of wealthy people read two or more educational books monthly, compared to just 15% of those with lower incomes.

And in addition of increased income, science says that readers are more successful in many other areas of life including happiness and health.

Why does this happen? Maybe the tech leaders don’t just read for the facts in each book? Maybe the reading process itself has shaped their thinking.

Reading does more than give you information. It improves how your brain processes complexity. And as a developer, your unique thought processes are becoming more valuable as automated code generation continues to increase.

You learn to program by programming - Reading gives you an extra edge

Before moving on, I want to emphasize that to learn software development, programming is the only way.

If you’re not a developer who already writes plenty of code, open your IDE and implement a project from scratch. It’s your best bet to learn.

Programming is like playing piano: to learn it you need to exercise.

Don’t use reading as another way of procrastination. Start hacking and also read a little every day.

But if you already write tons of code, reading books will grow your knowledge and give you an edge.

Scrolling vs knowing - The power of deep reading

When AI can create code and answer questions in seconds, why spend hours reading books?

Reading, especially deep and focused, gives you an advantage over those who don’t read.

What is deep reading?

Deep reading means slowing down and really thinking about what the book says. Instead of rushing through text, you:

  • Focus on every sentence.
  • Ask questions inside your head.
  • Take notes in the margins.
  • Connect new ideas to things you know.

Deep reading is different from speed reading or skimming. All of these have their place, but deep reading is a tool for understanding and remembering ideas. This makes reading more powerful.

My personal deep reading strategy is to write to the margins. It keeps me awake and forces me to actively think about what I have read. If I have nothing to write, I am not thinking what I’m reading.

Deep reading gives your brain more time to analyze complex structures and understand nuances. Plus, it’s way more enjoyable to read this way.

The hidden costs of endless scrolling

“I don’t have time to read”, you say.

But, there’s always time to scroll, scroll, and scroll more.

We spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes daily in social media. That’s like working two full days per week for free!

This “shallow scrolling” is like eating junk: It feels good in the moment, but it’s terrible for you!

What mindless scrolling does to your brain?

Impact What the science says
Kills your focus We can only focus for 47 seconds before getting distracted. In 2004, people could focus for 150 seconds, that is over three times longer!
Weakens your memory Students who checked social-media feeds during a lecture scored much worse on short-term memory tests. Higher social-media addiction predicts weaker memory .
Ruins your sleep A big meta-analysis (40 000+ participants) found that using electronic media causes sleep problems.
Makes you anxious Heavy social-media use links to higher anxiety and depression.
Lowers your productivity Multiple studies shows that more social media use leads to worse performance on important tasks.

Time is the most valuable thing that you have. There’s no way to get it back. While everyone is free to choose how they spend their hours, it’s smart to be make conscious choices instead of letting algorithms to decide for you.

Do you know where your attention goes each day? More importantly, do you know where you want it to go?

How deep reading supercharges your brain

While shallow scrolling rots your brain, deep reading does the opposite. It continuously builds your mental strength and helps you in many positive ways.

What does deep reading do for your brain?

Benefit What the science says
Expands your knowledge Reading is very effective way to understand the world. It builds your vocabulary and expands your general knowledge about different ages, people, cultures, science, and countless topics beyond your profession.
Boosts your memory Your brain is like a muscle: it gets stronger when you use it. A study of 197 papers in 2018 found a clear link between reading and working memory. Another 14‑year study found that adults who read at least once a week were 46 %– 58 % less likely to have memory problems as they aged.
Reduces stress quickly Reading is an effective way to relax and unwind. In one study, 30  minutes of quiet reading lowered heart rate and blood as much as a 30‑minute yoga session!
Builds mental frameworks Cognitive‑science shows deep reading drives the construction of rich mental models. Mental models are simplified concepts in your head of how things work and what are the core concepts, underlying principles and frameworks.
Sharpens comprehension Deep reading improves your ability to understand complex materials. This boosts problem solving, logical and mathematical thinking, and critical thinking including reasoning and judgement.
Broadens your perspective Reading helps you to understand others, connect dots, gain broader perspective and see patterns others might miss. Studies show that reading fiction temporarily boosts perspective‑taking and empathy.
Inspires and motivates Reading can be fun and inspiring. A UK study found that reading inspired 27% of people to make major life changes like finding new jobs.

These brain benefits are essential in software engineering. You use problem solving and logical thinking daily when debugging tricky bugs or designing new features. And Like Leonardo da Vinci, you can use reading across disciplines to ignite new ideas.

But there’s one benefit that’s less obvious: a precise, extensive vocabulary. As you read deeply, you’re not just absorbing information. You’re learning the nuanced language needed to clearly express yourself and your ideas.

Let’s explore why language and vocabulary matters for developer.

Mastering the vocabulary of development

Software development is as much about communication as it’s about technology. And communication is way more than talking with your boss once a week.

Why words matter in code and conversations

As a developer you’re communicating in multiple ways every single day.

1) You communicate through code

With every line of code you write, you express your intention to other developers and to your future self.

  • You choose variable names that make sense
  • You translate human needs into machine instructions
  • You tell the system how it should act

2) Discussing with people is important in your profession

As a developer, you need to

  • Understand what users want
  • Read their bug reports
  • Explain to your product manager why a feature will take another week
  • Review pull requests
  • Convince your team to try a new programming language
  • Tell a designer why their design is impossible to build

Each conversation requires you to adjust your technical vocabulary depending on who you’re talking to.

3) You’ll be better at instructing AI

This is the newest type of communication combining both previous types.

When you give instructions to AI, you’re communicating with a machine using regular language, not just programming code.

You’re essentially acting as a manager to your AI assistant needing same verbal skills that with people:

  • Provide context
  • Break down problems
  • Communicate your intent

Your vocabulary is your communication API

You can think of language and vocabulary as your personal communication API between your brain and the world.

A rich API gives more options how systems can interact with each other while a limited API restricts what you can do.

Your vocabulary works in the same way. It defines what concepts you can express or understand, and to which conversations you can participate. If you don’t have words for something, you can’t easily discuss it. Like you can’t use a feature that doesn’t exist in an API.

The goal is not to know as many words as possible or to sound clever with fancy terminology. The goal is to be able to use established terminology for effective communication. This makes interactions smoother and avoids reinventing terms.

Consider a software development team discussing system architecture. A developer who knows terms like micro services, API gateway, or load balancer can quickly participate in design discussions. Without knowing the meaning behind these words, they’d struggle to follow conversations or spend time explaining basic concepts.

Reading builds your word arsenal

Reading is the best way to upgrade your word arsenal. In the same way that you need to write code to hone your programming skills, reading builds your linguistic muscle.

Books serve as repositories of established terminology. By reading foundational technical books, you learn the ideas behind the words that developers use every day. Simple examples could be composition, dependency injection, or factory pattern.

But don’t limit yourself to tech books. Read whatever you enjoy! It could be biographies, science fiction or history. Every book gives you new insights and makes you better with words.

AI learns from the same books

AI tools are trained using the same foundational technical books, so they know the terminology you’re learning.

When you know these common concepts, you can write better prompts and explain what you want without lengthy descriptions.

Think about it: Would you rather explain a complex idea in three paragraphs, or just say “use the observer pattern”?

Shared vocabulary makes your communication with AI more precise and effective.

Right words, shorter prompts & better outcomes

Have you ever spent too long writing an AI prompt that still doesn’t get what you need?

Or struggled to explain your great idea to it? Inside your head you know what you want, but can’t find right words to describe it.

This is where your reading pays off because a strong vocabulary lets you communicate with precision.

Example

Say you need a class that allows only one object to exist in your entire application. You might ask an AI like this:

🤖

Please refactor the EmailService class so that there can be only one instance of it in the whole application. You should be able to access that object anywhere.

That’ll probably work fine. But here’s a simpler way:

✨

Please refactor the EmailService class to use singleton pattern

Same request, half the words, and better results! Why? Because singleton is a widely recognized pattern that AI tools understand perfectly.

The difference? Knowing the right term. That knowledge builds up through reading and expanding your technical vocabulary one concept at a time. And you can use same skills when peer reviewing pull requests.

More examples

Example 2: Dependency injection

Wordy prompt:

🤖

Change this class so that instead of setting its dependencies as properties, or creating its own dependencies inside the class, it gets them passed in when the class is created.

Simple prompt:

✨

Prefer constructor injection over property injection in this class.

Example 3: SOLID Principles

Long version:

🤖

Make these classes better by ensuring each class has only one reason to change, that you can extend behavior without modifying existing code, that derived classes can replace base classes, that interfaces are specific to client needs, and that high-level modules don’t depend on low-level modules.

Short version:

✨

Refactor these classes following the SOLID principles.

SOLID is a set of five object-oriented design principles, instantly conveying complex requirements in one word.

Example 4: Authentication

Without precise vocabulary:

🤖

Set up a login system that … …

With precise vocabulary:

✨

Implement OAuth 2.1 authorization code flow with JWT tokens and OIDC

Each term carries specific meaning giving you more exact results. OAuth 2.1 defines the authorization protocol, JWT specifies the token format, and OpenID Connect (OIDC) is an authentication protocol built on top of OAuth.

Example 5: Architecture

Describing the concepts:

🤖

Refactor this first version of an application to follow an architecture where … …

Naming the concepts:

✨

Refactor this MVP app to follow CQRS architecture with separate read and write models using event sourcing for state changes. Use Kafka as the event store and projectors for denormalizing events into queryable views.”

Multiple architectural concepts are condensed into one sentence showing how powerful using the known vocabulary can be.

Engineering a reading habit that sticks

Understanding the value of reading is one thing. Actually making it happen is another. To get real results, you need to read books regularly, not just add them to your wishlist.

“But I don’t have time to read”

This may sound familiar but here’s the truth: it’s an illusion.

How many minutes do you spend scrolling social media, browsing news feeds, or watching random videos each day? Five minutes? Thirty? Hours? Do you even know that?

Could you redirect just 10 minutes toward reading instead? That’s sufficient to make real progress and form a lasting habit:

Even with half that speed, you’re consuming 6 books per year. That’s more than many people manage in a decade!

If busy tech leaders running major companies can carve out an hour a day for reading, surely you can find those 10 minutes.

Remember though: internalizing what you read and enjoying reading matters more than racing through titles. Set time-based goals rather than book quotas to remove pressure to rush through content.

Consistency is the key

Daily momentum beats reading marathons. It’s far more effective to read a little every day than to wait for that perfect afternoon when you can finally have time to settle into your favorite chair.

You already know that perfect moment rarely comes. Otherwise your reading list would be much shorter, wouldn’t it?

“But I don’t have enough self-discipline to read every day”

I have good news for you: You don’t need self-discipline in the long run. You only need it to get started.

Consider your morning routine. You brush your teeth without motivational speeches. This happens because it’s a habit. Reading can become the same kind of habit and consistency is the key for that.

Choosing what to read

Read anything! Read what excites you most.

Pick the book that feels most inviting. A Python book, science fiction novel, history, romance, or economics textbook. The topic doesn’t matter because building the habit is more important than specific content.

Can’t decide? Pick a one that solves your tomorrow’s pain. Align your reading with your current sprint themes, project challenges or learning goals.

If you already read regularly, try one of these foundational software engineering books:

  • Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
  • Code Complete by Steve McConnell
  • Domain Driven Design by Eric Evans

Books are within reach

You don’t need a big pile of money to read books. Here are free options:

General free books:

Software Engineering resources:

30 day challenge

It’s time to put this into action!

I challenge you to pick one book and read for 10 minutes every day for the next 30 days.

Reading for 30 days will give you a quick start to build habit. By the end you have learned a lot and you’ll know if reading is something you enjoy.

Here’s your action plan:

  1. Pick your book. Choose something you’re genuinely excited about.

  2. Lock in your reading time. Choose a time when you’ll read for 10 minutes every day. Put it in your calendar or set a phone reminder. Morning with coffee? During lunch? Before bed? Pick what works for you and stick to that time.

  3. Track your progress. Write down each day you complete your 10 minutes. Use a simple excel sheet, or plain old check marks on paper.

If you miss a day, don’t quit the challenge. Skip days happen. Life happens. Pick up where you left off and keep going until you’ve read for 30 total days. What you do 80% of the time matters far more than being perfect.

Technologies and tools change monthly, but the thinking engine that you build by reading keeps compounding over time. Every book expands your vocabulary, improves your communication, and sharpens your thinking.

Read daily, succeed greatly!

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