Recent Reads
I tend to read - a lot. I remember in grade school, we would get this little catalog of books (alas I don’t recall the name of the company) and inevitably, I would order 10 or 20 books. In college, I really enjoyed Great Books and Great Ideas - we read something like 30 books over the course of the year but the cool part is we had to buy over a 100 (my list was a bit different but you get the idea)! Ever since then, I’ve had a thing for reading lists like Joel on Software’s Fog Creek Software Management Training Program Reading List and Adaptive Path’s list.
Growing up, I was a science fiction guy and I read pretty much anything Piers Anthony put out (I particularly enjoyed Bio of a Space Tyrant and Incarnations of Immortality). Oddly, I actually enjoyed standardized testing time because it meant I’d have a fair amount of time to read. These days I tend towards books related to software though I still indulge in the occasional Tom Clancy novel though I haven’t really touched a Grisham in a while…I will admit to pounding through The Da Vinci Code though.
Anyway, I find myself very intrigued by what others are reading so, egotistically, I’m thinking there is an outside chance that someone tracking this blog may be interested in what I’m perusing (mostly, I’m thinking Joe or Jeff…)
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
I’ll admit it, this is yet another book recommended by Kathy Sierra… This is quite a remarkable book - it examines how, despite all beliefs to the contrary, popular culture might actually be making us smarter. I know - heresy right? But, consider this. In the 1960s, TV shows had a few main characters, one plot, and each show wrapped up in an hour. Compare that to shows like 24 and The Sopranos that have dozens of characters and multiple plot arcs that extend not only across episodes but several seasons. I’m about half way through and I’ve got to say, the rest of Steven Johnson’s books are on my list! You might also want to check out this study by two economists from the University of Chicago as well as this New York Times piece and this one on Slate.
Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
I really enjoyed Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize winning Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies so I was quite tickled when his latest work was waiting for me under the Christmas tree! Now, I’ll warn you, Diamond is, well, thorough and I’m betting this one will take me a while to cruise through but it’s quite a fascinating look at why societies fail. Diamond examines well known societal collapses like Easter Island, the Anasazi and the Viking colonies of Greenland failed , as well as looking at modern disasters such as Rwanda. While there is clearly an environmentalist undertone, Diamond points to factors beyond extinction of resources in contributing to these failures. I’m a little over half way through - quite a good read (but be prepared - this is not a casual book).
Ambient Findability
This book has been on my radar for a bit but seeing it mentioned on one of the blogs I track finally pushed me to order it. I’m not very far into it but I really like it. Ambient Findability talks about a lot of things that catch my interest these days. I’m not ready to rank this book but it’s worth checking out. Update: I have since finished this book and can’t recomend it enough. In the next few years, the concepts that are discussed in this book will take on added importance…
Behind Closed Doors
I consider The Pragmatic Programmer one of the best books ever written on software so when Dave and Andy turned their attention to publishing I naturally took an interest in what they put out. The handful of Pragmatic Books I’ve read have been top notch and this book is no different. Unlike some publishers, Pragmatic tends towards short and sweet meaning you’ll actually finish them! I rattled this one off in just a few days but you could probably read it in a sitting or two (I deliberately held myself to two chapters a night). I find myself doing more management tasks these days so I found the lessons in here particularly relevant. The story based approach makes this far more readable (I think Joel and Kathy would approve!)
Flow
This was one of the books I took to Spain (what can I say, I’m a geek). One of several books Kathy Sierra recommended to me, this classic talks all about getting and staying in the flow state. Over the years, I’ve read a lot of material on using the mind as a competitive advantage in sports (the night before track meets I would mentally walk through the meet) so this really was a natural fit for me and while reading, I found myself repeating sections to Christine!
Getting Things Done
This was another of the books that accompanied me across the Atlantic this fall. I’m not terribly stressed at work (yet) but the idea of being in the flow state more often really appeals to me. I’ve been tracking 43 Folders for a while which got me interested enough to take it for a spin. I have to admit I’m not systematically applying many of the principles yet but in Spain I really wish I’d had a hipster PDA with me!
Freakonomics
Yet another book that travelled with me! OK, so technically I’m not “reading” this book - it’s my first foray into the audiobook world. This is really a fascinating listen answering questions like what’s more dangerous, a pool or a gun? Why do crack dealers live at home? Are sumo matches rigged? I’m ambivalent about the audio format; it’s easier when I’m trying to put in a few minutes on the treadmill but graphs don’t translate well and a couple of times I’ve had to fast forward a bit when I accidentally “rewound” to the start…sigh. Anyway, great book!
The Big Moo
This is the first Seth Godin book I’ve read (though again, Kathy has recommended some to me) and it’s all about being remarkable. It’s a bit of a stretch to call this a Godin book since it has something like 33 authors but there are some pretty interesting lessons in this slim tome. This is really a collection of (very) short essays from the so called Group of 33 and while some of the writing is a bit trite and simplistic, at least a few have had me nodding along enthusiastically.
