I had a boss once that told me “what gets measured gets improved.” - I’m sure it originated from someone else like Peter Drucker, but it stuck with me. From about that point on, I started keeping a simple list of the books that I read every year. As the year starts to come to a close, I figured that I’d post my reading list and simple thoughts on the books. While this is by no means an extensive review, it might help in choosing your next read.
List of work related reading
These books mostly revolve around technology and programming, but a few are more philosophical in nature. When it’s possible, I typically listen to the books on audible, it’s just easier and I can do it on my commute. For the coding books, I buy the e-book’s just because some things don’t translate to audio books.
| Title | Read it agian? |
|---|---|
| User Story Mapping | No |
| The Art of Work (In Progress) | So far Maybe |
| Contagious: Why things catch on | No |
| Before Happiness | Yes |
| Business Model Generation | Yes |
| The Five Keys to Mindful Communication | No |
| The E-Myth revisited | Yes |
| Value Proposition Design (In Progress) | So far Yes |
| Getting Started with Backbone Marionette | Yes |
| JavaScript Testing with Jasmine | Yes |
| A mind for numbers | No |
| Jasmine JavaScript Testing-Second Edition | Yes |
| Instant Oracle Database and PowerShell How-to | Yes |
| Understanding Software (In Progress) | So far Yes |
| Web API Design: The Missing Link | No |
| The Definitive Guide to API Management | No |
| Web API Design | No |
| Getting Real | Maybe |
| The Grid | Yes |
| Big Data | No |
| The Business Blockchain | No |
List of non-work related reading
The non-work books tend to be more fun, but even so three more serious titles made it into the listing. The two science fiction books Seven Eves and Ocean of Storms are fun books to read - they are actually quite hard to put down.
| Title | Read it agian? |
|---|---|
| Seveneves | Yes |
| Genghis Khan and the Making of the modern world | Yes |
| When breath becomes air | Yes |
| Ocean of Storms (In Progress) | Sofar Yes |
| Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (In Progress) | Sofar Yes |
If I could only pick two..
Going through my list of books this year, I have a lot of options, which makes it difficult to choose just two. In no particular order here are my picks. When breath becomes air - while it’s no surprise that it’s a very sad story, it really reminds you that life is short and that you need to live it to its fullest. My other pick is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - it’s kind of a documentary, although I think the missing parts have been elaborated. The book combines my love of history with an interesting story, and even drives the thought that if you never ‘teach’ what you know to someone, it quickly disintegrates when you’re gone. If you’re interested in either of these two here’s a link for two free books on audible, there both on there.