[cambalache]

I agree, but I really hate those books that try to be funny and quirky when trying to explain a technical subject. Give me K&R every single time.

The problem is not the humor or the silliness, the problem is that for a newbie it is impossible to distinguish what it is important from what is not, what is an exaggerated truth for comic effect and what it isnt. This is a sin very common in popular science/technical books.

"Dont worry about not understanding General Relativity. In a certain sense the concept is very simple, space bends according to the mass/energy distribution like fabric under a heavy ball (maybe the bowling ball of your uncle Bob), so it becomes curved.... and that's why you derive the Christoffel symbols from the Lagrangian of the equation of motion under a given metric.

[RangerScience]

There are two kinds of people who are trying to learn code: Those who already think like a programmer, and those who don't.

K&R is for one of those. _why's guide is for the other.

[darthrupert]

And those of us who are not dumb enough to be locked into a single narrow mindset will enjoy them both.

[RangerScience]

TBF, input is generally linear; prior to experiencing both, one will be better suited to go first. Usually because it makes the broader concept-space - and thus the second - more generally accessible.

[brazzy]

...or else!