[aleph_minus_one]

In other countries, "tech industry" does not pay that well. Also keep in mind that there exist a lot of people who do programming (even often quite complicated programming) as part of their job, but work in a very different branch of industry than tech industry - also with a much smaller salary than what is common in the tech sector in the USA.

[fauigerzigerk]

The example given was $25 per hour though, which is not some outrageous Silicon Valley salary.

I think the idea may well be that there are two groups of people in the world. Those who pay for books and those who never pay for books, especially if they can find a free download somewhere.

Students, young tech workers from low wage countries, people who just want to have a look or are horders rather than readers won't pay regardless of price.

So the only question remaining is what effect price has on those who do buy tech books. Will they buy a cheaper book instead?

I don't know the answer to that, but I can say that for me there is a psychological £49.99 threshold that makes me start thinking and looking at other options rather than making an impulse purchase.

This threshold is completely irrational. If you double my salary today, the threshold won't change. It only changes gradually over time.

[aleph_minus_one]

> I think the idea may well be that there are two groups of people in the world. Those who pay for books and those who never pay for books, especially if they can find a free download somewhere.

I claim that I belong to a third group: I do spend a lot of money on books, but have to be somewhat careful with my spending. I can also claim that the knowledge that I get from the mentioned book will in all likelihood not increase my salary, so I am interested in this book solely because I am very interested in this topic. But since I am interested in a lot of topics (and tend to avoid illegal downloading of e-books if possible), I have to concentrate the huge book spendings on those books that are insanely good.