31–40 of 294 posts
The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.
Programming related: Perl cookbook (helped me to setup my first online business and do what i do today) Life related: The Power of Habit (didn't skip a single day at gym for 3 months non stop because of what i learned from this book)
I looked up "The Power of Habit" and came away with a few books, which one are you referring to?
[1]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Power-Habit-What-Change/dp/18479...
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. I'm cautious to say it changed my life, but it definitely changed my view on many things. I'm more aware of the ubiquity and power of debt, and I can no longer take those for granted. It's an extremely interesting read and has a broader intellectual appeal, elucidating the roots of money, morality, and the roles of markets, nations, and friends with regard to those.
What I really liked was that he put the development of money (and markets, morality, nations etc) in a great historical context so you can see why things happened the way they did.
This book covers lot's of FP concepts in a very simple way, and I bet that anyone that struggles daily with hard-to-maintain OO projects would fall in love with it FP.
Antifragile - This book change my ways of thinking about life. Also this year I've read Black Swan, another great book by the same author.
I've got Antifragile queued up next.
Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.
For me it's High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way. Frankly I don't care about strength, and am focusing instead on bodybuilding.
I used to spend a lot of hours in the gym not really knowing what I'm doing (no plan, no goals). After this book I now have a good plan and clear, predictable goals.
[1]: And I've made it a personal goal to limit the "language-specific" books to those written before 1995.
1. Thinking fast and slow - Understanding how we actually think as opposed to how we think we think is a critical skill, especially in a startup. Having a Nobel prize winner explain how the two systems of your brain work together (and can sabotage you) was enlightening and enjoyable. This book helped me understand many aspects of design and sales that had been black boxes for me
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...
2. Art and Fear - This is a book nominally about the relationship between artists and how they go about making art but it is useful for anyone creative. It's about how to go about making when you have errands to run, a deadline, or just don't feel like it. As a dev I found it inspiring
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmakin...
http://www.amazon.com/Still-Life-Woodpecker-Tom-Robbins/dp/0...
Leaving college with such powerful to convictions of social evolution, scientific pragmatism, and the power of Art as a mental practice left me with some hard facets of reality to contend with. This is the struggle of one of the the main characters, Leigh-Cheri. She is a wide eyed idealist who is thoroughly disenfranchised with the way the systems in the world abuse and exploit people.
She meets a mad-bomber outlaw named Woodpecker, a revolutionary with bordering mythical aspirations. Their affair is a wild journey of growth as characters and citizens, not of a royal bloodline or America, but of Earth and the ideas, and actions, which make this world a vibrantly beautiful place. Most important book of the year for me, with close runners up:
"The Nature of Code" by Daniel Shiffman. Excellent book on simulation of the natural, chaotic world in the Processing programming language. http://natureofcode.com/book/
"Nine Kinds of Naked" by Tony Vigorito, which deals with the primacy of synchronicity and numeric harmony in the lives of twirling, interrelated characters. http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Kinds-Naked-Tony-Vigorito/dp/0156...
Good reads everyone!
Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good. Some things are a bit dated though.