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Is this guy for real? I can't tell if it is written in earnest or as a blistering satire.

He is serious..
He didn't read, probably because he is not good at what he does, and is a complete moron. My library, continually grows, and I buy books even if a few chapters are helpful. Technology changes so fast, there is no way that I can believe you can be great at your job, without continuously learning. I would fire this guy. For the most part people are happy at just getting the job done, rather than doing it the best.

One thing to keep in mind... "continuously learning" does not mean "buy more books." If you enjoy an impressively nerdy bookcase, that's fine. But having a lot of books usually implies that you've got a lot of repeated material; making it hard to locate the really useful pieces. Aside from that, most books that come out these days are crap -- they're either poorly written (a lot of programmers are abysmal writers), have terrible examples, or present absolutely nothing of substance, or bring nothing new to the table. There are some exceptions to this, but programming books are too expensive and too long to just pick up on a whim and try to sift through the crap. I'd rather find a few focused electronic articles that hit the meat of a particular technology any day -- maybe have 1 desk reference which covers the basics, but electronic formats are just too damn convenient. I agree that this guy doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but completely dismissing him for disliking a (grossly overpriced and impractical) printed medium is like getting on somebody because they prefer to read the news online rather than get a newspaper delivered.

Agreed -- I don't read many programming books (not zero, but very rarely), but I'm actively trying out new stuff all the time.

The software-related books I do read are generally much more conceptual and only contain code to exemplify concepts (like design patterns, or best practices) -- since, think about it: what use is code in a book? The writer can't correct errors in it, you can't run or modify it anyway, you can't search for it quickly, you can't paste it into an existing project.... Etc..

For all the lower-level stuff (like learning a new language, library, toolkit, etc.), I learn a lot faster by diving in -- there's nothing more valuable than functional but simple mini-projects that use the language, technology, etc. well., coupled with a thorough online reference. Get it running, and start changing it to do what you want.

It's also far more interesting to learn when you have an actual goal that you're pushing towards, as opposed to just trying to absorb a large amount of currently useless information.