I spent a whole year going through the entire SICP, and doing all the exercises. It is not only a matter of "being technical", if there are exercises and you want to do them, your goose is cooked.
I wonder how many technical books anyone reads from start to finish.. for me very few have met that criteria
Agree. Although, I don't consider this to be a negative fact. Some chapters are relevant, others are not. This is quite common for technical books.
2 or 3. 5 technical books is pushing. Am unsure how much can you read _and_ remember/understand 100% if you do 6 to 10.
Average person in the US, not counting ppl who don't read at all, reads 6 books a year.