I make it a point to visit the local bookstore regularly and rummage through the many new and older books in the computer and mathematics sections.

My work demands that I keep abreast of all of the latest technological advances. The book titles on display are a pretty good indication of which areas I should be concerned with. Not that that it is so much extra work to me, thumbing my way through rows and rows of books just waiting for my magical touch. Actually it's fun and relaxing spending a quiet afternoon searching around in your favorite bookstore.

This afternoon however I was a bit dismayed to discover that almost all of the books on display lying on the new title table were about writing Apps for the iPhone. Most of the remaining books were about writing Apps for other mobile platforms like Android, etc.

What's happening here? Am I missing something? Should I be careful?

There were only five titles about Perl, but that's about the average exposure for most other stuff anyway. Not very long ago Python was the big hit, but now there are very few titles about that either. Java is still going strong but getting depleted as well. The web design section which normally contains books about CSS, HTML5 and Javascript, was filled with mobile design books, again mostly for the iPhone (ouch).

Supposing that I were to look for some information concerning something besides programming mobile applications, then where should I go? I'm sure that Internet is now the best place to look, though it's harder to filter through what's relevant or not.

Now that I even think about it, why buy books about mobile apps anyway? Books are getting old-fashioned, they are bulky and awkward, the contain pages which need to be turned back and forth.

I could just buy some fancy smart phone and use the embedded micro-browser to look for stuff myself. Tons of stuff all over the place. All that meta-information is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Think about it.

The good old days of finding what you need in bookstores is coming to a swift end, so better prepare yourself and be flexible for change if you want to survive.