"Chapter 1 introduces some of the basic tenets of the book, namely that code is literature and should be read as such. All too often people only read code when they have a specific problem to solve or want to get an example of an API. Instead, if you read code frequently you'll always be learning things and improving your skills. Also, Spinellis discusses the lifecycle of code (including its genesis, maintenance, and reuse), which simply must be taken into account if code is to be good. Poorly skilled developers forget these things and just slap it together, never thinking ahead."

From a review of "Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective"

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/02/1951204

I was reading this book in the bookstore the other day (too expensive to buy).

See also: "Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think"