Full disclosure: I didn’t fully embrace this book, I didn’t do the exercises at the end of each chapter. For most of the languages, I don’t even have them installed on my computer. Ok, It feels good to admit that. With that disclosed, I will say Seven Languages In Seven Weeks was a treat. Of… Continue reading Seven Languages in Seven Weeks By Bruce Tate
The Men Who Stare At Goats By Jon Ronson
The Men Who Stare At Goats follows the ups and downs of the use of paranormal and New Age concepts by the US military since the 1970s to Today, mostly focusing on their resurgence after 9/11. The title comes from the Ronson’s search for a man who allegedly has been able to learn how to… Continue reading The Men Who Stare At Goats By Jon Ronson
The Aviator: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight by Winston Groom
There were two striking ideas that came to me while reading The Aviators, the pace of innovation that happened in the period between the World Wars was staggering and that one man can easily fall in and out of grace. The Aviators follows the lives of Eddie Rickenbacker, the ace of aces in World War… Continue reading The Aviator: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight by Winston Groom
Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation By Jez Humble
Hopefully, more books I read this year will have an impact on my day to day life, but at the very least this one definitely will. Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble was suggested to me by our VP of engineering along with Release It By Michael Nygard which I read last year. Both cover the… Continue reading Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation By Jez Humble
The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Beyond the Myth of the Scandanvian Utopia By Michael Booth
While coming back from our last trip to Iceland, I was walking around the airport bookstore and this book caught my eye. The book’s covers were tongue in cheek and I made a mental note to read it. I for one have definitely had the author’s experience, seeing the endless surveys and headlines about how… Continue reading The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Beyond the Myth of the Scandanvian Utopia By Michael Booth
What If? By Randall Munroe
Are you a regular reader of XKCD? Do you like hypothesizing on the fantastical? Have you considered tying yourself to 100 AK-47s and trying to fly through the air? If you answered yes to any of the previous questions then likely you would be a candidate to read What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical… Continue reading What If? By Randall Munroe
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
If you build things for a living that have an interface, whether it be physical or software, this book is required reading. Originally published in 1988, The Design of Everyday Things sets the standard for how we should approach design. Norman uses real life examples of where designs excel and fall down. He then explains what… Continue reading The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
Save The Cat By Blake Snyder
I started the year with a controversial book. It might not seem controversial as it is, at its heart, a guide to being a more successful screenwriter. But Save The Cat By Blake Snyder is a screenwriting guide for those looking to sell their script, not to be necessarily critically acclaimed. Written by Blake Snyder,… Continue reading Save The Cat By Blake Snyder
ReactJS Talk
Recently, I gave a talk at the Boston Front End Developers Meetup. The talk was about Facebook’s ReactJS and Jest, what they are, what they aren’t, how they work and how to get started. The video can be found here: The slides are available here: https://github.com/securingsincity/reactjs-talk/blob/master/react-slides.pdf?raw=true And lastly sample code on how to use React and Jest… Continue reading ReactJS Talk