>>When you said he should give up the 'project' to someone else, that implies giving up the book and not just the task of replying to the forum.
I said that if he doesn't have time to finish the project (i.e., obviously, the book) he should hand it over to someone else. I was responding to his own comments in which he said that he didn't have enough time to address all the points raised in the forum.
>>I'm not sure where you got the idea the book has been in printing stage since October (six months)
He said that '16 came out very close to the time the book was finished being written,'. This was in September 2017. So the text was finished about eight months ago.
>>but the author has stated in his post on Mar 12th that he's still addressing points in it, so apparently it's not gone to the printer's yet.
That may be true. But, if so, what (if anything) happened between September 2017 and March 201

?
>>And you're positive it should only take a day or two to update a book based on a change such as React 16? I think you underestimate the book writing process considerably
I have written two IT books, one of which was translated into German and published by top-tier publishers in both the UK and Germany. The writing process took about two months. In the case of a transition from React 15 to 16 only a few lines of code needed to be changed, which would have taken a day or so.
>>That said, I can sympathize with why it's taking the author as long as it has, and again appreciate his efforts to keep the book up to date. I've purchased other titles where the material was several versions behind when the book came out and it's no fun when that happens.
As you point out, it's the norm in the computer industry these days to publish books which are dead on arrival. However, it doesn't mean that we have to lower our standards to that level: there is no more reason to be 'grateful' that a book we have spent good money on is fit for purpose than there is to be grateful that a jar of peanut butter actually contains peanut butter.
>>Manning isn't providing six figure advances for their titles, so Mr Thomas has other obligations to fulfill.
These authors usually write a book to embellish their resumes - they're not professional authors who depend on advances and royalties for a living.
In any case, if the advance wasn't enough he shouldn't have signed the contract. And finally, Manning should have the sense to write contracts which stipulate when the book should be finished, just like every other publisher in the world.