Are you suggesting people just go read the documentation like an encyclopedia? I don’t know a single person who got their start programming by doing that - just about everyone wants some sort of guide to help lead them in good directions.
I still have some of them. They've aged surprisingly well.
What kind of books? The person you're replying to is arguing in favor of books, but saying that the documentation in particular is not a good one to start with.
The problem is "That's more or less exactly how I learned to program." sounds like it's a response to the question in the comment you replied to. Which would mean there's either disagreement or you didn't understand the question. And the way you mentioned other people sounded like you might be interpreting "guide" as a human guide.
I guess instead you were skipping the question and talking about the second sentence?
In that case I recommend quoting which sentence you're replying to in a situation like this.