We know this was a popular way of getting into programming in the past. But do books work in recent times?
Books are of course useful to gain higher knowledge in CS. But for starting out which books are still helpful?
The interactive Internet is much better. Just look at the possibilities code wars offers.
And then. It depends on the type of the brain learning. Some learn better watching videos (I can't!), some are learning from guides, cheat sheets (I like) and of course, ask questions if something is unclear.
For special topics like building a compiler - domain knowledge - it's better to use a book, though.
I used the resources available on the Internet to learn programming. It's, actually, pure logic - that needs to be trained. It can't be done with a book, except it is like "for dummies" and build as a guide
By providing a much more solid understanding than online-only approaches, minus the incremental negative health effects of working at your laptop.
Let the cloud-native solution architects go their merry way, and develop their understanding of the world from blogspam and YT videos.
While you -- embrace your destiny, book yourself that weekend in your favorite cabin by a wooden lake -- and curl up with K&R.
I used the book How to Design Programs to learn programming in a clean and functional way. I had to find the textbook that clicked for me.