Quite irrelevant at the Spanish level? I don't agree. He is involved in the dirtiest affairs of the Spanish society, from the political parties to the monarchy, including the police force...
But, we agree on that, absolutely irrelevant for HN.
I got it when I was 30 years old and you know what? I use the programming skills I have now plus the knowledge aquired in my previous job. The result is a programmer who also is a specialist in X or a X specialist who can develop software in this field.
I met a Belgian who spoke 6 or 7 languages fluently (as many Belgians apparently do)
I've been many times to Belgium and never knew anyone talking more than 4 languages. Of course that's not a rule, but "just" French, Dutch and German (residual) are official languages. In Wallonia (French-speaking regions), many people don't speak Dutch and there are a lot of people who just talk _some_ English (not to mention the difficulty to pronounce some sound).
My 2 cents: I just spend 7 hours working each day (5 off 7). The remaining time I just live! Having fun with my 2 kids: reading, playing, practising martial arts. To sum up: enjoying the life, it's too wonderful to spend it working :-)
I think Dr. Norvig defends the idea of learning by making a effort and devoting a lot of time against the infra-culture of "learning XYZ in 21 hours" and so on :-)
In Spain you cannot fire a pregnant woman. It could be even illegal asking for it in a job interview... Recent laws allow the father taking the 50% of vacation for child care. In candidates lists -algo by law- there must be 50/50 men/women. So, definitely, Hungary is not representative from European Union.
I would recommend you OOSC (Object oriented software construction) by Bertrand Meyer. A mammouth book. Its length, which could be a hindrance, is its best point: you'll have plenty of explanations for every concept.
But, we agree on that, absolutely irrelevant for HN.