I’m back with another set of books I read this year. I’ll be finishing a few more by the end of the year. Walkable city: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time – When I travel, I love to use the public transit of a city and walk as much as I… Continue reading More Books in 2016!
Category: books
Some More Books I Read in 2016
When I started the year I had a goal that I would write a blurb about each book I finished this year however I’ve fallen way behind in the writing piece. As a form of catch-up (read as cheating), I’m going to quickly recap the books I’ve read since The Power Of Habit. Born To Run – A… Continue reading Some More Books I Read in 2016
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business By Charles Duhigg
At my old job, we used to have cans of Coca-Cola available in our fridge. I remember every day I would start to drag around 3 PM, and then the lovely sound of someone else opening a can would cause me to get up, drift to the fridge, open my own and drink it as… Continue reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business By Charles Duhigg
This Is Your Brain on Sports: The Science of Underdogs, the Value of Rivalry, and What We Can Learn from the T-Shirt Cannon by L. Jon Wertheim and Sam Sommers
I like sports but I think I love the human side of sports more. I read Deadspin, when I had cable I watched Outside The Lines and 30 for 30 and I listen weekly to Only A Game on NPR. Sometimes it feels like professional sports are its own universe where outlandish behavior is acceptable… Continue reading This Is Your Brain on Sports: The Science of Underdogs, the Value of Rivalry, and What We Can Learn from the T-Shirt Cannon by L. Jon Wertheim and Sam Sommers
Seven Languages in Seven Weeks By Bruce Tate
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 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