Slashdot Asks: What Book(s) Are You Reading This Month? 261
We have not run book recommendations and book discussion posts for some time. So here it goes: What's a book -- or books -- are you reading this month? Additionally, what's a book you finished recently that you found insightful, or funny, or both. (The latter request comes from a reader.) Leave your recommendation and any additional notes in the comments section below.
ww1 centennial coming up (Score:4, Interesting)
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The Mythical Man Month (Score:5, Insightful)
Everybody who engineers or manages engineers needs to read this book every few years.
"The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.
Re:The Mythical Man Month (Score:4)
Every few years since the 1970s managers get some new fad that it is possible to totally predict all software development, 100% perfectly, so it fits into nice neat marketing timetables. Clue: even companies with billions of dollars have trouble perfectly predicting large software projects or when they will be ready.
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Every few years since the 1970s managers get some new fad that it is possible to totally predict all software development, 100% perfectly, so it fits into nice neat marketing timetables.
Can you give a few examples of these "fads", because I have never seen this.
The biggest fad today is Agile, with does the opposite. It abandons the idea of a rigid timetable, and instead uses a series of flexible "sprints", and incremental objectives.
Waterfall used rigid timetables, but it was around way before 1970, and was never a "fad".
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When someone comes to us with work that "must get done" we can show them all of our scheduled work and figure out which other work might need to g
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I can never really work on any one thing 100% of the time. Agile allows us to take in new work, [...]
Sorry, but what you describe is essentially the antithesis of agile. One of the core ideas of agile is for the team members to be 100% committed to the project, to pick their own tasks and to take responsibility for them. If you keep disrupting them with "new work", they can't be responsible for delivering their parts of the project - their time is not under their control. And, of course, this is extremely wasteful, as the task-switching effort is massive for complex projects.
Many companies work this way
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Re:The Mythical Man Month (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, I don't think Agile runs contrary to Brooks. In fact, I think Agile flows pretty naturally from Brooks.
Of course, the term "agile" can be abused in astonishingly foolish ways (and yes, I've lived though some of these), but I actually think true Agile addresses many of the issues raised by Brooks as being keys to successful projects when properly done.
So let's call Agile and Brooks complementary.
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But will they learn the lessons from it?
I read it because I need to remember the lessons. IF the young skulls full of mush refuse to understand it is their folly, not mine. They can take my advice, or not; they can learn the easy way (from others' mistakes) or the hard way (by making their own mistakes). Personally, I'm so close to being done here, I don't have a dog in this hunt anymore.
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even companies with billions of dollars have trouble perfectly predicting large software projects
Strike "perfectly", and it still is true. All companies have trouble predicting any non-trivial software projects (say more than 3 developers involved, more than 6 months initial schedule), unless its the umpteenth copycat web app. Projects work well if you have one developer who understands the system and is provided with adequate support. And projects die when that developer is hit by a bus, or a Google offer, or a stupid manager. The other way to stay on schedule is to plan for about 1000% of the best-gu
Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (Score:4, Interesting)
I have always found this essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/make... [paulgraham.com]
To be the best way to explain to managers/executives how to work with engineers.
Re:The Mythical Man Month (Score:5, Funny)
Everybody who engineers or manages engineers needs to read this book every few years.
"The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.
I was going to have all my subordinates read it but the book was too long, so I assigned them all a chapter to read so they would finish reading the book quicker.
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I've seen some young "professionals" dismiss "The Mythical Man Month" because it is old.
This is folly.. Brooks was right, there is nothing really new about the problems of executing engineering projects, and there solutions will never change.
Re:The Mythical Man Month (Score:4, Informative)
True story. A company was having problems with its development team. I was brought in to manage the team, to get things straightened out and act as a bridge between the developers and management. One of the folks on the management team asked me if I could recommend any books on the issues that address why they were having such problems with software development. I said there are a bunch, but start with the best, "Mythical Man Month". A few days later I asked him if he had bought it and started reading it. He said he looked at it, but it was really old so he didn't bother with it. He asked if there were more recent books I could recommend. I said, "Yes, but none of them are as good. Trust me, give this one a chance and we can talk about it's applicability to our situation." Again, a few days later we talked, and he decided he wasn't going to bother getting and reading it. I said, "Let me get this straight, you hired me for my insights into the software development process. You've seen me improve things around here. You asked me, presumably because you recognize I have some expertise in the field, what you should read, I told you, and you decided to go with your instincts on this matter over my judgment, is that correct?" To this day I have not received an answer to this question.
The Billionaire Raj (Score:3, Insightful)
A few I've read that have had me laughing.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Are:
"Carpet Diem" by Justin Lee Anderson
(The Chronicles of Breed) "Dangerous to Know", "Tooth and Claw" and "Something Wicked" by K.T. Davies.
I'd say Carpet Diem would appeal to fans of Douglas Adams for the humour, and perspective on life.
The Chronicles of Breed books are the sort of humour that Deadpool brings to bear, though I'd say has a fair bit more insightfulness than Deadpool about life.
All of those are well worth a look.
My Fantasy Reading List for September 2018 (Score:5, Interesting)
* The Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence
* Lyonesse by Jack Vance
* The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
* The Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
* The Fall of Gondolin by JRR Tolkien
I can recommend all of these, except for The Fall of Gondolin. It's not really up to Tolkien's best standard, but still worth reading for fans like me.
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The BBC screened Hamlet earlier this year, and I decided to read it this month too.
Also Crash Override by Zoe Quinn.
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"The Wilderness" - by I.M. Lost, forward by G.P. S. Down
"Flying into Fixed Terrain" - by We Tuw Lew, Forward by Paul Up
"I Drive!" - By Ickup Andropov, forward by Mr. U. Wilkin.
"Hexed" - By Eight Bits, forward by Justa Byte
The Joy of Linux (Score:3)
A Gourmet Guide To Open Source
https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Lin... [amazon.com]
Using FreeDOS (Score:2, Interesting)
Really liked Using FreeDOS [freedos.org] from the FreeDOS folks. Kind of a blast from the past in there about old DOS programs, and its cool to see this favorite old OS also-ran still hanging around. It's for free as an EPUB or PDF, but there's a bound print copy too.
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Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh (Score:5, Insightful)
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I read the first few books in that series when they came out, and had no idea she had continued publishing more. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Re: C.J. Cherryh (Score:2)
I have never read a C.J. Cherryh book, series or standalone that was anything but entertaining - and I've been reading her stuff since her first novel was published. They're all good ...
Three Body Problem trilogy (Score:5, Insightful)
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i think i enjoyed them more from a cultural reference point. its interesting to see how a "typical" Chinese would relate to events that i personally would see very differently.
I really enjoyed the books for their sci-fi content as well.
My list (Score:4, Insightful)
- The Pun Also Rises (not a typo; yes, it's about puns)
- The Great American Novel by William Carlos Williams
- Thanks, but It's Not for Us - a book on writing craft
- Drinking with Dead Drunks by Elaine Ambrose and A.K. Turner
Current and upcoming... (Score:4, Insightful)
Current:
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
So far so good... very insightful into how we think and act.
Up Next:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
Looking forward to this because he's such a great figure.
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You would enjoy:
The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality [amazon.com] by Paul Halpen, who worked with both.
The story of the unlikely friendship between the two physicists who fundamentally recast the notion of time and history
Feynmans's antics are quite legendary and discussed here.
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Up Next:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
Looking forward to this because he's such a great figure.
After you're done, read its sequel: What Do You Care What Other People Think?, also based on interviews of Feynman by his colleague Ralph Leighton. Feynman's recollections of the Challenger inquiry are alone worth the read.
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Current:
Upcoming?
I haven't really decided which one will go on which device yet, but John Dies at the End by Steven Wo
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Score:2, Insightful)
This is a tale of someone making $100 million during the 1929 stock market crash.
Imagine having enough cash to pay 100,000 people to work for you for nearly 3 years.
This day, that would be about $15 billion.
"Small Gods", by Terry Pratchett (Score:3)
I've read 4/5th of it at this point, I'll probably finish it this weekend. It's a beautiful nice fantasy story. No need to have read any of the other Discworld novels, either.
It's the story of a young apprentice priest in a extremely religious society, who meets the actual god of that society. The god has just re-incarnated into a small tortoise, and has almost no godlike powers left. And, the little tortoise can only be heard by the apprentice.
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The BBC Radio production of it is really good. And if you like Pratchett, check out AA Pessimal on fanfiction.net -- https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1... [fanfiction.net]
Sunburst and Luminary (Score:4, Insightful)
by Don Eyles, about the "development of software for the Apollo program". This book contains far more technical details than is the norm, and the tone is that of an actual engineer rather than a biographer/editor.
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Similar vein, "We Have Capture" by Tom Stafford.
I've been on an astronaut bio kick recently.
school, work, or fun? (Score:2)
For school, text books on project management and agile management.
For work, technical documentation
For fun, I've been re-re-reading a lot of Terry Pratchett's stuff as well as a lot of excellent Discworld fan fiction from AA Pessimal on fanficton.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1... [fanfiction.net] . If you like Pratchett and all things DIscworld, Pessimal's stuff isn't to be missed.
The Day We Lost the H-bomb (Score:3)
In 1966, as a result of a mid-air collision of US aircraft, four unarmed thermonuclear bombs dropped onto Spanish territory. Three were recovered on land. Tracking down the fourth required the largest search-and-salvage operation in U.S. military history.
The Day We Lost the H-Bomb by Barbara Moran is a fascinating read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book... [goodreads.com]
The Skull of Alum Bheg (Score:3)
It's about the uprising in East India Company controlled India that lead to the direct UK government rule.
A Short History of Nearly Everything (Score:4, Interesting)
Author Bill Bryson explains some areas of science, using easily accessible language that appeals more so to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. I'm just beginning the book, but I've already found it absolutely fascinating as it's filled with little factoids, such as why Pluto lost its planetary status (it's less than half the size of the United States and may even be a comet in the Kuiper belt), or of the billions and billions of species that existed throughout Earth's history, 99.99% of them no longer exist; the average existence of a species is 4 million years.
It's a really compelling read.
Not everyone's cup of tea ... (Score:3)
"A Companion to Hegel"
Hegel himself is very nearly impenetrable, so I'm using this book as something of a mental crutch.
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I'll have to check this one out. Thank you.
Darn it... (Score:2)
I thought at first this said "A Companion to Kegel"
"Lost in Math" (Score:3, Insightful)
"Lost in Math", by Sabrine Hossenfelder.
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That's a great book. I would never read pop sci books written by journalists, but she is a theoretical physicist. Highly recommended book.
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Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War (Score:4, Insightful)
By Max Hastings.
Fascinating, but its so tall that it's slightly awkward to hold it open with one hand, which I find myself doing a lot because I'm referencing things or looking up word definitions on my phone.
I had the good fortune of visiting Powell's City of Books for the first time in years in August and I've been working very slowly (much more slowly than I normally go) through the pile of books I got there.
Random recent stuff (Score:3)
The Analects of Confucius
Python for Data Analysis
Eon (Greg Bear) - a bit dated, but fun
Dracula (Bram Stoker) - worth it just to understand the source material for so much modern horror
Apollo 8 (Jeffery Kluger) - Great, historical mission that isn't as commonly talked about as Apollo 11 or 13
Anthem (Ayn Rand) - Total garbage, should have known
The Anti-Gravity Handbook (Score:3)
I just can't seem to put it down!
Graham Greene (Score:4, Interesting)
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The Heart of the Matter [wikipedia.org]
Difficult to read, but so moving ... so dead on in the pain that people experience in relationships, and in life in general.
Now for something different (Score:2)
Probably no one today has heard of him.
Book marathon for me (Score:2)
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The Tempest by Shakespeare (Score:2)
Jack L. Chalker's Well World (Score:2)
two, and they seem related (Score:3)
Iliad... (Score:2)
Not original at all, but I am reading Iliad by Homer for the 3rd times...
Also just prior to this I read The Golden Ass [wikipedia.org] by Apuleius, absolutely terrific!
Desolation (Score:2)
Desolation (Book 1 of the Keystone Bone Trilogy) by Jesper Schmidt
Capital in the 21st Century.. (Score:2)
I am reading an Asimov classic (Score:3)
"Foundation and Earth" Of course I have already read it but the Foundation series always is a good re read.
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I read that trilogy LONG ago and re-read it a few months back.
Stupendous both time.
Destiny's Crucible Series by Olan Thorensen (Score:2)
I have really enjoyed these books from Olan Thorensen, based on a man from the modern Earth who is sent to another world populated by humans but with 17th century technology:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D3Z3QC3?ref=series_rw_dp_labf
White Trash (Score:4, Interesting)
Bigfoot and the Bridesmaid (Score:3)
Not much of a plot.
Hundred Days (Score:3)
We're coming up on the centennial of the end of World War One in two months. So a book about the last 100 days of that war seemed appropriate.
And Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, just because I find that part of the Leyte Gulf battles in WW2 endlessly interesting.
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I bet you are a fan of ForgottenWeapons. Am I right?
Wired That Way (Score:2)
Understanding personality type.
I just finished Big Potential by Shawn Achor
I'll probably read this one numerous times
And next up is Bringing Out The Best In People by Aubrey C. Daniels
Stormlight Archive & Aruba ACMA Study Guides (Score:2)
I've been reading "The Stormlight Archive" fantasy series this summer. Also got my sister hooked.
I also have Aruba (HP) WiFi Self-Study Training and certification that I need to complete by the end of the year for work (they are paying for everything). I plan on completing at least one of the courses and exams this month.
Do audiobooks count as reading?? (Score:2)
If you include listening to audiobooks, then I can claim the following:
1. The Light of Life: The Cycle of Galand, Book 4 by Edward W. Robertson
2. The Ritualist: Completionist Chronicles, Book 1 by Dakota Krout
3. The Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully by Aaron Carroll, MD
4. Dark Deeds: Keiko, Bo
Utopia for Realists (Score:2)
Utopia for Realists and How We Can Get There, by Rutger Bregman
A lot of the book is dedicated to the proven benefits of basic income, and how giving money directly to the poor is not only much more effective but also a lot less costly.
Another large chunk is about the 15 hour work week, the benefit of working less and how working more and more, which is has been the trend over the last few decades is bad.
There's a shorter part about the benefits of open borders.
I'm near the end, a discussion about cognitive
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari (Score:2)
This is a wonderful book diving into the nature of what it means to _be_ Homo Sapiens; from how we conquered the Neaderthals to industrialism, capitalism and the modern economy. Top notch stuff. very thought provoking.
Patrick O'Brian (Score:4, Interesting)
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Good shit ... (Score:2)
... like:
- Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's cat
- The Quantum Labyrinth
- The Black Hole War
- Tales of the Quantum
SF and Fantasy (Score:4, Interesting)
- Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik: A re-telling/twist on the Rumpelstiltskin story. A lot darker and more intense than "Uprooted", but still good.
- All Systems Red - Martha Wells: A story about "Murderbot", a security robot that's broken its conditioning but somehow never gets around to doing much murdering. Re-listening to with my SO because of the Hugos. Still good the second time around.
- The Fated Sky - Mary Robinette Kowal: Sequel to the very excellent "Calculating Stars" about an alternate history space program after a meteor impact in the 50s.
- Girl in the Green Silk Down - Seanan McGuire: Sequel to "Sparrow Hill Road", about a hitch-hiking ghost on the run from a phantom rider. Still in the middle of this one, but enjoying it so far, and i'm curious if it's going to turn into a long running series or not.
"Additionally, what's a book you finished recently that you found insightful, or funny, or both."
I'll pick "funny"
Either
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Dennis E. Taylor: A guy gets dragooned into being a space probe. It's got geeky cultural references like Ready Player One (but much more toned down and well integrated with the story) in a near future (relatively speaking) space opera plot.
or
All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault - James Alan Gardner: About an alternate earth where "creatures of the night" are at war with superheroes. The author does humor well, but a lot of it is situational humor about the ridiculousness of the situation and some of it is dark.
pulp (Score:2)
At the moment, I'm reading Kzradock the Onion Man and the Spring-Fresh Methuselah by Louis Levy. Published in 1910, originally in Danish, it's pulpish gothic weirdness, part detective story and part psychoanalytic mysticism. It's good.
I've been on a tear of turn of the century gothic nastiness all month. I just finished reading The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. Published in 1895, it's short stories wrapped around a play within a fucking nightmare. A friend told me that the first season of True
Spot the theme (Score:2)
My books for this month:
The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland
Craeft
Zend Frameworks 3
#2 is cheaper (Score:2)
I'm considering "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff. It's discounted now that the Bob Woodward book is out. Wolff is the "poor man's Woodward".
And I just finished "Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist" by Roger Lowenstein. It's a decade old, so also a bargain. (Get the "new afterward" edition.)
What I found fascinating is that the investment business has just as much Dilbertian bullsh8t and wasteful fads as software engineering. We are not alone: the grass ain't greener o
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At the moment ... (Score:2)
The Three Body Problem [wikipedia.org] - Cixin Liu (just finished)
The Eye of God [jamesrollins.com] - James Rollins
The Amber Spyglass [wikipedia.org] - Philip Pullman
Will be looking for another book by Alastair Reynolds [wikipedia.org] soon.
Haven't decided yet if I want to read the next two books in the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" series by Cixin Liu -- any commentary?
The Three Body Problem Trilogy (Score:2)
Sherlock (Score:2)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. After seeing all the adaptations over the years, I finally started reading the source material. It holds up well.
Factfulness: Ten reason why you are wrong (Score:2)
Factfulness is a look at world statistics (that sounded very dry, the book isn't). It is not too shocking to me as I am a regular reader of The Economist (if you really want to get to "Oh, my god, he's doing it again" look, just start a statement in a meeting with "As was addressed in a recent article in The Economist. . . ) and I recently finished "The better angels of our nature, a great book but very dry. I mention this to explain why I scored well on the books pretest, yes, the book had a pretest.
The bo
SF Mostly (Score:2)
Finished this month:
Solaris - Lem
Valis (reread) - DIck
A Scanner Darkly - Dick
The Idiot - Dostoyevsky
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant (Score:2)
darkening age (Score:2)
the darkening age: the christian destruction of the classical world - catherine nixey...highly recommended for fundies ;). you know, for a scholar she moves things right along
bad blood: secrets and lies in a silicon valley startup - john carreyrou...elizabeth holmes is a very bad girl. but we knew that
amity and prosperity: one family and the fracturing of america - eliza griswold...fracking can be very hazardous to your and your neighbors' health
Nice try, Amazon... (Score:2)
...so you want to monitor our reading choices also here on Slashdot ?!?
The Expanse (Score:2)
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I suppose you never watch (scripted) TV or movies either. Or make up stories for children. You must be really fun person.
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Don't agree.
I contributed a post, commented on a couple, and now have some reviews that motivate me to pick something different to read.
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Read it.
In fact, I have read all of his.
Very informative and entertaining for we lay.
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Phil Collins autobiography "Not dead yet."
Such an insensitive book title after the death of the actor who played "Phil Collins" [imdb.com] on Trailer Park Boys.
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but.. "The Hidden Life of Trees"
Hope you got it as an e-book. ;-p