I am a professional programmer who's been working in the field for over a decade, who went to a top 40 school, use multiple languages professionally, yadda yadda.
I buy those books and the "best" advanced book on the language when I want to get up to speed fast.
Going through and doing all the exercises, and stupidly simple setup they always have is so worth it. Typing in all the code takes almost no time at all, and it gets you the basic understanding down pretty fast. Then the advanced book smacks any bad things the silly book tried to give you, and you can start making something real with it.
I buy those books and the "best" advanced book on the language when I want to get up to speed fast.
Going through and doing all the exercises, and stupidly simple setup they always have is so worth it. Typing in all the code takes almost no time at all, and it gets you the basic understanding down pretty fast. Then the advanced book smacks any bad things the silly book tried to give you, and you can start making something real with it.