Category: Because I Can

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” – P.J. O’Rourke

Last year, I’d hoped I’d be able to double my reading list of 2016. Looks like I’ve managed to do that this year by purposefully setting aside time every day for reasing. I’m hoping to continue the trend but doubt I’ll see as much of an increase quantity-wise. One thing I did notice was a distinct increase in the number of fiction books. Here’s to choosing quality over quantity in the coming year.

Caliban’s War – Book 2 of The Expanse.  Neatly folds in the ground broken during the first book while keeping the overall arc of humanity on a plausible arc.

The Alchemist – My sister gifted me a personalized copy of this book, citing it as one of her favorites.  I’m going to agree that I believe the hype.  The book focuses on helping each of us discover our own ‘Personal Legend’  Basically a reminder to be what you must be.

The Phoenix Project – While technically a novel, it’s meant to be a case study in breaking down established paradigms in systems and making meaningful improvements.  Adds some people focused drama but still demonstrates real world examples of constraints.

Don’t Be A Jerk – An in-depth annotation of a book I’ve never read. While there was some humor, most of the meaning was opaque to me. If I ever read Shobogenzo, perhaps I’ll come back to this one.

Abbadon’s Gate – Book 3 of The Expanse. Continues to builds on the previous story while raising the scope and the stakes.

The Daily Stoic –  The Stoic version of a daily affirmations book.  I wouldn’t recommend going into this one expecting to read it cover to cover.  It’s better to read each daily entry and let the ideas breathe throughout the day.  I’ll be repeating the process this year.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – I really wanted to like this book after seeing the movie. The language and pacing is dense and subtle with some teases and payoffs to keep the reader engaged. However, it’s not my definition of a page turner and I doubt I’ll be finishing the series

Rome, Inc – A humorous tongue-in-cheek recount of the rise and fall of Rome in the context of modern corporate culture

Lucifer – Book 1 – As I’ve stated before, I’m a big fan of Neil Gaiman. This is a spin-off of his masterpiece Sandman series that follows The Devil Himself post-retirement from his duties in Hell. Good read so far and I will be continuing the series.

Cibola Burn – Book 4 of The Expanse. Presents common human issues against hard proof of alien civilizations within the familiar setting of a frontier land rush.

The Handmaid’s Tale – A harrowing vision of what a Christian Theocracy might look like. Almost as if you took today’s puritanical tendencies, turned them up to 11, and gave them the force of law.

The Complete Software Developers Guide – Intended to be a reference guide for developers as opposed to be read cover to cover (although you certainly can). A great resource with great ideas for people looking to take the next step in their careers or even start down a new path

Rome’s Last Citizen – A biography of Cato the Younger, Stoic paragon and bitter enemy of Julius Caesar. Cato’s myth is cited as a catalyst for Rome’s adoption of Christianity as well as inspiration for the concepts of individual liberty and natural rights.

Snow Crash – A classic of the cyberpunk genre, being a delightful product of the optimism and futurism brought on by the inception of the World Wide Web. At once familiar reflection and alien satire of our ever accelerating culture.

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World – Most Western education about the Mongol Empire depicts them as savage barbarians who pillaged and enslaved millions. While these depictions are largely true, they leave out the disruptive and transformative impact of the Mongol expansion and their legacy.

Nemesis Games – Book 5 of The Expanse. This is a return to form for this series as a page turner. Also, rather than investing in new characters, the author takes time to flesh out existing ones. Can’t wait to read more!

Blood of Elves – The first of The Witcher novels. I really wanted to like this one and it was great to see familiar characters and a bit of the lore that spawned the game series. However, the book violates the ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ principle for about 80-90% of it with lots of shouty dialog where you’re not quite sure who’s speaking or what they’re talking about and little to no action.

I’d love to hear any feedback on this list and invite you to share your own reviews or recommendations.  As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to add them here or address them to john@benedettitech.com.

Posting book recommendations seems to be a thing when New Years rolls around.  The last time I posted about books, I put together a list of my favorite recommendations.  This time around, I put together a list of books I read over the past year.

Essential ASP.NET with Examples in C# – A bit obsolete.  Vanilla web forms rather than MVC.  However, I did find some useful nuggets around IIS and ASPX page architecture.  Any of you still involved in IIS hosting or legacy support might find some value.

Wherever You Go, There You Are : Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life – In depth overview of mindfulness with various case studies and examples or thought experiments in easily digestible form.  A good read for those seeking the value of being present and deliberate.

Richest Man In Babylon – A book on financial health with guidelines packed into parable form.  It’s mostly common sense stuff and a bit repetitive, but still useful.  ‘The 10% Rule’ was most valuable to me.

Clean Code – A classic book on software quality that easily makes most developer’s reading lists.  Some of the most valuable pieces for me were:

Focusing on indentation – The idea that if your indentation is sloppy, you should focus on that before anything else

Boy Scout Rule – Always leaving code better than you found it

Test Driven Development – The principle that tests are always closer to the truth about code’s purpose than comments or documentation

Leviathan Wakes – The novels on which the series The Expanse is based on – I honestly haven’t had a book grab my attention like this in a long time and would highly recommend it to any sci-fi fan. The setting is gritty with enough everyday human concerns to be a believable future state while still having stakes and scope worthy of space opera.

Waking Up – Interesting premises on the nature of the mind, the concepts of self and better living through meditation.

The Analects – A collection of Confuscious’ sayings and one of the core works of Confuscianism, the main idea of which is virtuous living and self development according to The Way.  It’s a decent read but I get the feeling that The Way being discussed is very specific to the author and his students (Upper Class Chinese Nobility)  For the modern reader, The Way may be more subjective but the call to action is not.

The Death of Common Sense – I heard a rumor that this book was an inspiration for the character of Hank Hill (King of the Hill), so I had to take a look.  An indictment of following the letter of the law at the expense of the spirit.

Meditations –  A collection of the writings of Marcus Aurelius and one of the core works of Stoicism.  I’d compare this to the Analects as far as the need for context.  But again, the call to action is definitely not subjective.

Not a long list, to be sure.   This year I’m hoping to double it, but hopefully not just for the sake of quantity.  I think my pile of books to read actually grew more this year.

I’d love to hear any feedback on this list and invite you to share your own reviews or recommendations.  As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to add them here or address them to john@benedettitech.com.

Thanks for looking in!

I’ve been seeing quite a few book recommendation lists lately.  So, I decided to throw my own hat into the ring with my own list of book recommendations.

While writing this list, I laid down a few ground rules for myself:

• Only 1 book per author – I did keep a short list of runners up after the main list.
• No Fiction – Unless the lesson from the book is singular and embedded, you might have better luck looking for a philosophy book with an explicit lesson and a more thorough explanation.  Lessons from fiction to me are mostly subjective and allegorical so I kept a short list of fiction books that I would recommend to anyone.
• I have to have read it recently enough that I can summarize the book from memory. – My thoughts are: If I can’t throw together a few sentences about the book from memory, it must not have been that impactful.

The List

The Art of War – Attributed to Sun Tzu & Others. My absolute favorite.  Don’t let the title put you off.  This is as much about preparation and choosing your battles as actual conflict.

 
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield – Not exactly an inversion of the first book on this list.  This title is about focusing on and executing on your goals.  It’s about the importance if action and how to not sit idle.

 
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People –  Stephen R. Covey – A classic on mindful and focused execution.  The themes and habits of this book are taught in grade schools now.

Choose Yourself – James Altucher – This book is about betting on yourself in the face of adversity.

Purple Cow – Seth Godin – This book was required reading for me in college and is about standing out.  In a world full of developers, services and consultants, what makes you stand out?

Getting Things Done – David Allen – A productivity system that is as much about cognitive load and capacity as it is about efficiency.  I use it daily.

The Demon Haunted World – Carl Sagan – A good primer on worldly skepticism and critical thinking from the man himself.

The Art of Deception – Kevin Mitnick – Case studies on social engineering and black hat strategies.  Reinforces the point that people are always the weakest link in IT Security.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! – Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton – A quasi autobiographical collection of memoirs from Dr. Richard Feynman.  Reinforces the idea that its possible to literally change the world while having fun and having a life.

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki – A basic education in money management and asset growth that should be required reading for every student.

So Good They Can’t Ignore You – Cal Newport – Titled with a paraphrased quote from Steve Martin, this is a long form reminder to focus on skill growth in your trade while striving to excel and continuously parlay those skills into more important or valuable roles.

What If? – Randall Munroe – Anyone familiar with the web comic xkcd may already be familiar with this or even own a copy.  An entertaining attempt to answer interesting thought experiments with solid science and fun humor.

This Is How – Augusten Burroughs – A collection of essays that addresses strategies for confronting monumental life events and circumstances that can stop any of our lives in its tracks despite our best laid plans.  Blunt and plainspoken while still being compassionate.

Runners Up

The Warrior Ethos – Another one by Steven Pressfield.  This one is a more general overview of having a code and being worthy of trust.

The Dip – Another one by Seth Godin.  Shares a message with War of Art and Choose Yourself.  The main difference is that this book predicts that there will always be a point in any project or journey where you’ve lost momentum and feel stuck.  This can be both an obstacle or overcome but also an opportunity to stop and ask yourself if the goal is still worth your time.

Pale Blue Dot – Probably a more popular Sagan work than the one I chose.  This one focuses on the imperatives of taking care of our planet and making an investment in a shared future, recognizing that it’s the only one we have (so far) and we’re all in this together.

Fiction

Neuromancer – William Gibson – This is a classic of the cyberpunk genre and is credited with the coining of the term The Matrix for an Internet in the style of shared virtual reality.  Also touches on the concept of the Technological Singularity.

American Gods – Comparative religion and the modern personification of mythological figures is a popular realm for Neil Gaiman.  Expect to hear more about this novel in the coming months as it’s currently being turned into a feature length movie.

The Godfather – Probably the one novel I’d choose to be stranded with on a deserted island.  While most movies based on novels are derided for leaving out key elements, I believe the movie not only honors the source material but also complements it.  If you read it for one reason only, do it for the backstory of Luca Brasi.  You’ll never look at his halting wedding benediction the same way again.

I’m interested in hearing feedback on this list or some additional suggestions of your own.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to add them here or address them to john@benedettitech.com.

Thanks for looking in!