25 years ago I taught myself Turbo Pascal 3.0 (wow, am I getting old) thanks to a book by a fellow named Tom Swan. Great stuff.
Ten years later I found myself editing technology books, mostly consumer stuff (I edited David Pogue’s books for a couple years) but also the occasional programming book. I learned that the entry-level “Teach Yourself in 24 Hours” programming books are written by the publishers’ favorite authors – people whose entire programming knowledge is stretched to write the book, but can churn out piles of serviceable text on time. At the other end of the spectrum are the really deep and niche programming books. It’s incredibly difficult to find authors for those because it takes the rare combination of deep experience and the ability to write. My employers could find one or the other, but seldom both. They tended to favor experience, but they weren’t always good judges. So as the editor I spent ridiculous amounts of time fixing inaccuracies and making their writing make sense.