I have been an avid reader since I can remember. Often my vacations are
spent on a beach soaking up the sun and devouring 3-4 novels. My personal
tastes are primarily fantasy (of the J.R.R. Tolkien
sort) and spy-type novels (of the Robert Ludlum
sort). Of course, in order to stay in the software development game I also find
myself reading technical books about methodologies, best practices and specific
programming languages.
These are books that I've read and recommend or plan to read (in the pipeline).
Simple as that. Sometimes I'll review them or will just give a thumbs up/down. Or maybe none
of that if I'm just not in the mood. ;-) For quick reference I've broken them
into 2 categories: technology and
non-technology.
Technology
| title / author / comments |
ASP.NET Unleashed, Second Edition
by Stephen Walther
A really good reference book. I use this constantly while developing ASP.NET applications.
|
C# Unleashed
by Joseph Mayo
A really good reference book. I haven't read it cover-to-cover, but I frequently refer to it
for specific topics.
|
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is the slightest bit involved
in web or application user interface design.
Read my review here.
|
Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box
by Various Authors
If you are at all interested in computer security this is a great read. Because it is
a collection of short stories it's very easy to pick up and read a chapter in 30 minutes
to an hour. Each story is a fictional representation of a whitehat's
or blackhat's perspective of a security
incident. If you are a system administrator/engineer certain stories will make you think
about your own network, at least it did me.
|
The Mythical Man-Month
by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
This is another title that I highly recommend for anyone involved with software
development, no matter what role! Read my review here.
|
Non-Technology
| title / author / comments |
The Bourne series by Robert Ludlum: The Bourne Identity (1),
The Bourne Supremacy (2) and
The Bourne Ultimatum (3).
The movies were ok,
but [as is the case most of the time] the books [especially the first one] are
really good. If you enjoy the spy/thriller genre then you'll enjoy these.
|
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
I realize this might look like I'm jumping on the bandwagon, but this was a very good book.
There was enough historical context in it that really made me think twice in several areas. Yes,
I'm fully aware that it's fiction ;-), but the historical tie-ins made it really interesting to me.
|
The Hobbit and
The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Although published more than 50 years ago (Hobbit
in 1937 and LotR in 1954), they
are still the bar by which all fantasy novels are judged.
I was first introduced to
Bilbo Baggins
and Frodo Baggins in 1982 at the ripe age
of 12 and was hooked from that point on. I have re-read them at least a dozen times since then, each
time seeing new perspectives and getting even more enjoyment out of them. Although the
film adaptation
of the LotR trilogy certainly does the storyline justice and is extremely entertaining, I still highly
recommend reading the books.
|