The Kind of Book that gets Me in Trouble

I just got an email announcing “Seven Languages in Seven Weeks” from the Pragmatic Programmers. This is exactly the kind of book that calls to me. Man, it would be so cool to learn 7 languages at a more than superficial level. My problem is that I have ideas for 7 projects that would actually be more productive than learning 7 languages. I might buy the book and not read it or buy it and read part of it before realizing I should be working on finishing one of my projects or buy it read all of it and go back to the projects I should have been working on… See that’s why I hate these kind of books, I want them and I can justify them, but I don’t know if they are really valuable for me.

On a secondary note, this book highlights a new problem for me now that I will soon have an iPad. The electronic version of the book is $22 and the print version at Amazon is $23. I want the electronic version for its convenience, but this is also the type of book which I would likely sell and that just can’t be done with an electronic version. If the electronic version were around $15, it’d be easy. At nearly identical price points it’s a tough call.