Teaching Yourself Programming In Ten Years

Here is an interesting essay ( http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html) on Peter Norvig's site: Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

Norvig was spot on. He was writing about computers. In my view, there are no books on how to learn gem and jewelry business, gem identification and treatments, grading of diamonds and colored stones, in a few days. It's a big joke. A little learning can be a dangerous thing. There are no real short cuts. Researchers (Hayes, Bloom) have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas.