The page count of 3347 really makes you appreciate the complexity of modern x86. For comparison, I recall an undergrad class that used a simple MIPS instruction set described in a couple of pages.

Actually the real page count is quite bigger, because AMD has not bothered to bring their Architecture Manuals completely up to date, so for AMD CPUs you must also read Intel's reference manuals, for things implemented in the AMD CPUs but not described in the AMD manuals, like AVX-512.

The less comprehensive AMD manuals are important mainly for the differences between Intel and AMD, e.g. virtualization.

That's only about 6 entire full course textbooks!

I think I'd read documentation more if it came in physical form still. Then again, my personal reference library has plenty of textbooks I haven't fully read.

You can still purchase physical copies of Intel's version: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/intelsdm

That's shockingly cheap given the size of those books. Is Intel publishing them at print cost?

Basically. They upload the PDFs and LuLu charges whatever they need/want. Intel doesn’t make income on them.

my favorite books :p so many things of wonder. just learning about shadoww stacks (and wondering why wruss instruction exist o.O)