Of course not, but they surely help. Even if sometimes you won’t understand what they are about until you’ve gained more experience. As it has been said in the past, you are always searching for what you already know, uncounciously or not. And one of the best education you can get is reading a 2m stash of great books from your area of expertise (usually this beats most schools, especially romanian ones). Too bad I can’t remember who said this either.

I’ve added an Amazon Wish List widget in the sidebar, you can check some great books that I think are worth buying (and will buy most of them, gradually, unless I win the lottery :)) ).