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Brilliant :))))

Are these 95%-5% and 80%-20% numbers actually coming from some mythical source, or are they part of the 78.2% of statistics that are just made up on the spot?

Note I do agree that software professionals (or any professionals for that matter) have a responsibility to their profession to keep up to date. However I am skeptical of these statistics people have been throwing around lately, and I am skeptical that reading causes you to be more productive (more likely both have a common cause, a desire to be a good engineer).

It's probably not the reading that increases productivity. It's the person who is motivated enough to read tends to also be motivated enough to seek ways to increase productivity

Right, I agree. But then its wrong to tell someone that they can magically increase their productivity by simply reading blogs and journals (and a waste of time anyways, since the ones who will listen to you are the ones already doing that). At best the only thing this correlation can do for us is help managers weed out applicants who are not motivated by asking in interviews how they keep up with the industry.

Thanks to rlamarch for posting the link on DZone. Two highlights (and only two that stand out in the entire article in my opinion) that I agree with Mr. Bruce Eckel:

1. "management is much harder than technology because it involves virtually no deterministic factors. It's all guesswork, so if you don't have good intuition you'll probably make stupid decisions. Napoleon wanted lucky generals rather than smart ones." - I agree with Bruce.

2. "Listen to books and lectures on tape while you commute." - I agree with Bruce, and there is much more that we as developers can do in our spare time like this.