Authors Dont Read

AntiPattern very frequent in books about software.

Sometimes you focus on a subject, and try to see what different authors have to say on it. And very often you find an author (actually several authors) strongly opinionated on that subject, giving advice that goes totally against what has been previously written on the subject. And, of course, as usual in books on SoftwareDevelopment no real arguments offered, no reference to the previous work, just personal opinion. Sometimes their own arguments is refuted by previous work, and at least they ought to have an explanation on what they discovered new on the subject, but they don't.

The conclusion can be only one: AuthorsDontRead. Don't be tricked by the long bibliography at the end of the book, their unargumented opinion is in direct contradiction with what they put in bibliography and in many cases a bibliography is just a facade.

Very often this is combined with AuthorsDontCode, and my personal experience is that authors who do code tend to be a lot more informed and to relate more on previous work. The explanation is simple: when you have to code and your personal responsibility is on the line, you tend to read a lot in order to be able to make informed decisions.