Quote:
Originally Posted by codeartisan
Everyone has their own learning style. The advice to ignore books really depends on your learning style.
So much this. Working with books also depends on what you take from them. If you just passively read or listen to audiobooks, you won't gain much, if anything at all, but if you do the exercises and really think about what you are reading, then you will gain much more much faster than flinging mud at the wall. They help you skip all the stupid mistakes you would make if you were just sitting down and writing out code.
OP: there is no one on earth who can tell you the best way you can learn. Self-learning is a deeply personal path and something that you will only discover from brutal self-honesty and trial and error. What works for me probably won't work for you, and likewise, what works for other people doesn't work for me. With that said, measure your learning resources against your abilities and your goals, and remember that there is a difference between learning, studying, exercising, and practice. You need all four, but how you go about it and what ratio is part of the bumpy journey.