Books read in 2019Q1

This quarter I’ve focused my efforts on a mix of everything:

business books: Traction, The Goal
philosophy: Stoicism and personal philosophy
some finance: classic: Malkiel, personal finance: Robin
some classic psychology: Frankl
a classic novel: The Metamorphosis (Kafka)

Read this quarter:

Hombre en busca del sentido, el; Frankl; own-it, non-technical
Metamorfosis; Kafka; own-it, non-technical
Your money or your life; Dominguez, Robin; non-technical, finance, own-it
Traction; Wickman; own-it, non-technical
How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life; Pigliucci; own-it, non-technical
Guide to the Good Life, The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, a; Irvine; non-technical, own-it
Goal, the; Goldratt (+); own-it
Random walk down wall street a; Malkiel [Parts I, II, III]; own-it

Note: re+read means I’m re-reading this book. The (+) stands for one-or-more times, as in the regexes.

Note: As a curiosity, I’ve added 30 books to the queue in this quarter, while only reading 8. So the list will naturally grow over time.

El hombre en busca del sentido; Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning)

In this book, Viktor Frankl relates his experiences and learning at the concentration camp.

One of Frankl’s main claims in the book is that a positive attitude was essential to surviving the camps. Consequently, he implied that those who died had given up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning#Reception

Metamorfosis; Kafka

The Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and subsequently struggling to adjust to this new condition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis

Your money or your life; Dominguez, Robin

This book is split in two parts:

Introduction to its philosophy
Practical advice for implementing said philosophy

Philosophy

In the first part, the authors give your a framework for computing your real hourly wage: (salary - expenses) / (work time*). where:

salary: net income from your job/employment
expenses: monetary expenses needed to maintain said job (e.g., car to commute to work, work clothing, work lunches)
work time*: hours of work + hours of everything related to work (e.g., commuting, shopping for work clothing, rest time when you are very stressed at work)

They explain the importance of doing the things that motivate us, that bring a positive impact to society and to the world

Traction; Wickman

Recommended by Evgeny Predein, who runs Apiumhub following the advice from this book.

A book report can be found here

How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life; Pigliucci

In this book, which was published after Guide to the Good Life (Irvine), there a few twists to this other referenced book.

Has many examples of how the author lives his life according to this philosophy.

Explains the history of Stoicism (from the Stoa Poikile - the painted Stoa [stoa = portico, porch]).

Guide to the Good Life, The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, a; Irvine; non-technical

Explains the concept of personal philosophy of life. That it is more important to have one than to have the correct one. That many people don’t have one, don’t even know this concept and go their whole lives without wondering if such thing exists.

Tries to adapt the ancient Stoic philosophy to the modern environment. There are a few twists to the Greek & Roman setups (the Greeks mostly valued virtue, the Romans mostly valued tranquility)

Explains the Stoic virtues, some exercises.

Goal, the; Goldratt (+)

Recommended by Evgeny Predein.

A management-oriented novel […]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_(novel)

The main goal of this novel is to teach using the Socratic method. The authors believe this is a good setup for practicing this concept. It also appears inside the novel, when the wife of the main character also references the Socractic dialogues.

In the introduction, the authors also try to explain the purpose of the book: doing science - coming up with hypotheses, experimenting, validating/invalidating them.

Introduces the concept of the mentor (in the form of a hippie business consultant), for someone who is not available all the time, who aims to provide tips for change itself, rather than making the change.

This book has inspired ‘The Phoenix Project’ (which I also read in the past).

Random walk down wall street a; Malkiel [Parts I, II, III]

(notes from 2019-03-23)

This is a practical guide to understanding finances at an amateur investor level.

Explains concepts such as:

Efficient Market Theory (EMT)
Capital-Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
Beta (systematic risk from CAPM) and unsystematic risk
Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT)
Technical and Fundamental Analysis
Castles-in-the-air vs Firm-Foundation Theories

Explains the background to the current investment scenario: the bubbles, the analysts, the conflicts of interest.

All of that in readable prose, well-connected story.

Also provides a practical guide for the investor, mostly targeted at the US investor (e.g., IRA, Roth IRA, 529s, 401(k))

Spoiler: a random walk is defined as a path in which the next step (to be taken) bears no relationship to the past. This is what the author suggests in relation to the stock prices.

Export from my backlog

backlog (partially sorted):

unsorted V
The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production
Haskell Programming
Software Architecture in Practice
lucha por la desigualdad, la; Pontón; non-technical
psicología del dinero, la; Hammond; non-technical
Invirtiendo a largo plazo; García Paramés; non-technical, finance
Well-Grounded Java Developer, the; own-it
Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!; own-it
camino al 18J, el; Payne; non-technical
Cartas desde la revolución bolchevique; Sadoul; non-technical
Java Performance: The Definitive Guide
Why programmers work at night
Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu; Sadler; non-technical
Scrum and XP from the trenches, 2nd edition;
Els jueus i Catalunya; Villatoro; non-technical
El problema de los tres cuerpos; Liu; non-technical
Amazon Web Services in Action; own-it
Clojure Programming - Practical Lisp for the Java World
Mature optimization
XUnit Test Patterns
Let Over Lambda
The Haskell Road to Logic, Math and Programming
Types and Programming Languages
Fundamentals of Object-oriented Design in UML
Clojure for the brave and true
How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method
Conceptual Mathematics: A First Introduction to Categories
Understanding Computation: From Simple Machines to Impossible Programs
Programming in Haskell
Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation
Doing Math with Python
Perfect Software: And Other Illusions about Testing
Computability and Complexity - From a Programming Perspective
Thinking Forth: a language and philosophy for solving problems
Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming
Bridging the Communication Gap; Adzic
Specification by Example; Adzic
Cucumber book, the; Adzic
Software Architecture for Developers; Brown
Object Design: Roles, Responsibilities, and Collaborations
RESTful Web APIs
RESTful Web Services Cookbook
Building Maintainable Software
Serverless - Patterns of Modern Application Design Using Microservices (Amazon Web Services Edition)
A Pattern Language; Alexander
Types and Programming Languages, TAPL; Pierce; own-it
Speed Reading Book: Read More, Learn More, Achieve More, the; Buzan
Cómo crear mapas mentales (Crecimiento personal); Buzan
First things first; Covey
What’s best next; Perman
problems of philosophy, the; Russell
Requiem for the American dream; Chomsky
sun also rises, the; Hemingway
travels, the; Polo; non-technical
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow; Harari; non-technical
Books by Aristotle; non-technical
Books by Plato; non-technical
Books by Descartes; non-technical
The idea of culture; Eagleton; non-technical
Hereditary Intelligence; Galton; non-technical
Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit; Poppendieck (+)
Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure; Garcia Martinez
Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash; Poppendieck
Joel on Software; Spolsky
Death March; Yourdon
Psychology of Computer Programming, The; Weinberg
Introduction to General Systems Thinking; Weinberg
Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way; Tzu, Le Guin; non-technical
Gay Science, the; Nietzsche; non-technical
Being Geek; Lopp
Finance for Freelancers; Retallick; non-technical, finance
Object-oriented software engineering: a use case driven approach; Jacobson
Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture; Fowler; own-it
Romeo y Julieta; Shakespeare; non-technical
Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective; Bryant, O’Hallaron
My Journey to Lhasa: The Classic Story of the Only Western Woman Who Succeeded in Entering the Forbidden City; David-Néel; non-technical
Cathedral and the bazaar, the ; Raymond
Coding dojo handbook, the; Bache; own-it
Making software; Oram and Wilson; own-it
Code complete; McConnell; own-it
Soft skills; Sonmez; own-it
DSLs in action; Ghosh; own-it
Purely functional data structures; Okasaki; own-it
Working effectively with unit tests; Fields (+); own-it
First Nazi, the; Ludendorff; non-technical
Greatest story ever told … so far; Krauss; non-technical
Master algorithm, the; Domingos; non-technical
Invention of Science, the; Wootton; non-technical
Tesla: Inventor of the electrical age; Bernard Carlson; non-technical
Psychology in minutes; Weeks; non-technical
Alan Turing: The Enigma; Hodges; non-technical
How to think more about sex; de Botton; non-technical
Piccolo manuale di persuasione; Taylor; non-technical
arte de la guerra, el; Sun Tzu; non-technical, own-it
Piccolo manuale di leadership Confuciana; Adair; non-technical
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living; Carnegie; non-technical
Uomo - Guida allo stile; Roetzel; non-technical
Unwritten Laws of Engineering: Revised and Updated Edition; King
Test-Driven JavaScript Development (Developer’s Library); Johansen
Test Driven Development: By Example; Beck
Arquitectura Java JPA Domain Driven Design; Alvárez, Peláez
End of loyalty, the; Wartzman; non-technical
Basic Economics; Sowell; non-technical
Introduction to Economic Analysis; McAfee; non-technical
Patterns of Software; Gabriel
Coders at work; Seibel
Clean architecture; Martin
How to be a stoic - Pugliucci; non-technical
Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming, an; Budd
Gafas de la felicidad, las; Santandreu; non-technical
Ser feliz en Alaska; Santandreu; own-it, non-technical
Mochila para el universo, una; Punset; non-technical
Gods themselves, the; Asimov; non-technical
Panamá papers, the; Obermayer, Obermaier; non-technical
Originals; Grant; non-technical
Optimism over despair; Chomsky; non-technical
SCIENCE OF BREATH: A Practical Guide; Ballentine, Hymes; non-technical
Yoga Explained: A New Step-by-step Approach to Understanding and Practising Yoga; Mehta,‎ Arjunwadkar; non-technical
Wanderlust: A Modern Yogi’s Guide to Discovering Your Best Self; Krasno; non-technical
How to Think About Money; Clements; non-technical, finance
By Way of Deception; Ostrovsky; non-technical
Printemps des sayanim, le; Cohen; own-it, non-technical
Deep work; Newport; non-technical, own-it
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products; Eyal, Hoover; non-technical
Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked; Alter; non-technical
The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads; Wu; non-technical
Willpower: Why Self-Control is The Secret to Success; Baumeister, Tierney; non-technical
Principles of Psychology, the; James; own-it, non-technical
Our mutual friend; Dickens; non-technical
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition; Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler; non-technical
Amusing Ourselves to Death - Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business; Postman; non-technical
Mastery; Greene; non-technical, own-it
Silence in the age of noise; Kagge; non-technical
Functional programming simplified; Alexander; own-it
Batalla del Ebro, la; Reverte; non-technical
Historia de la guerra civil española; Rojo; non-technical
Lucha por el poder, la; Evans; non-technical
Revolución rusa, la; Pipes; non-technical
Holocausto, el; Rees; non-technical
Martín Lutero, renegado y Profeta; Roper; non-technical
Siglo de la revolución, el ; Fontana; non-technical
Història de la revolución rusa; Trotsky; non-technical
Dispossessed, the; Le Guin; non-technical
Left hand of darkness; Le Guin; non-technical
Lathe of heaven; Le Guin; non-technical
https://www.amazon.com/Schopenhauer-Cure-Novel-Irvin-Yalom/dp/0060938102/
https://www.amazon.com/How-Schopenhauer-Through-Mid-Life-Crisis-ebook/dp/B00QXNB5PC/
Books in general – Epstein
Affluent society, the; Galbraith; non-technical, finance
Philosophy of the Buddha; Bahm; non-technical
Tribe of mentors; non-technical, own-it
5 dysfunctions of a team; non-technical
Ziglar’s Top Performance; non-technical
Pragmatic Programmer (+)
High Output Management; Grove; non-technical
First Break All the Rules; non-technical
Managing for happiness; Appelo; non-technical
Meditations; Marcus Aurelius; non-technical, own-it
Why budism is true; Wright; non-technical, own-it
7 hábitos de la gente altamente productiva
art of readable code
Domain modeling made functional
Sketchbook handbook; own-it
Agile samurai, the
Miracle of Mindfulness, the; Hanh; non-technical, own-it
No mud, no lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering; Hahn; non-technical
Lean Architecture: for Agile Software Development; Coplien, Bjørnvig
Agile IT Organization Design: For Digital Transformation and Continuous Delivery; Sriram Narayan
Philosophy of Software Design, a; Ousterhout
Hope in the Dark; Solnit
Agile!: The Good, the Hype and the Ugly; Meyer
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings; Fisher, Fisher; non-technical, finance
Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, the; Yergin; non-technical
So good they can’t ignore you; Newport
Creating a Software Engineering Culture; Wiegers
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager; Lopp
Don’t make me think; Krug
Leaders eat last; Sinek; own-it
art of the start, 2, the; Kawasaki; own-it
Unlimited memory; own-it
Selfish gene, the; Dawkins; own-it
Public speaking skills for dummies; own-it
365 days with discipline; own-it
How to fight; Hahn; own-it
33 strategies of war; own-it
Leader who had no title, the; own-it
greatness guide, the; own-it
Year of happy living, the; own-it
4 hour chef, the;; own-it
Finish what you start; own-it
Personal MBA, the; Kaufmann; own-it
Richest man in Babylon, the; own-it
Think and grow rich; Hill; own-it
Why Buddhism is true; own-it
Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life, the; MacLennan; non-technical
Just enough software architecture
Elastic leadership; Osherove; own-it, non-technical
Taking smart notes; own-it, non-technical
Secure by design; own-it
Reset; Sawyer; non-technical, finance
Investor’s manifesto, the; Bernstein; own-it, non-technical, finance
Splendid exchange, a; Bernstein; own-it, non-technical, finance
Birth of plenty, the; Bernstein; own-it, non-technical, finance
Simple path to wealth, the; Collins; own-it, non-technical, finance

unfinished (unsorted):

Working Effectively with Legacy Code (+); Feathers; own-it
Nonviolent communication (+); Rosenberg; own-it, non-technical
Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, an; Harvey; non-technical, own-it
Effective Java; Bloch; own-it
Functional Programming Patterns in Scala and Clojure; own-it
Release It! - Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software; own-it
Refactoring (+); Fowler; own-it
Leprechauns of Software Engineering (+), the; Bossavit; own-it
Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software; Vernon (+); own-it
Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware; own-it
Readings in Database Systems, 5th Edition; own-it
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP); Abelson, Sussmann, Sussmann; own-it
La Sociedad De Coste Marginal Cero (Estado y Sociedad); Rifkin; non-technical
Odisea; Homero; non-technical
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard; Heath, Heath; own-it, non-technical
Cómo leer un libro; Adler, van Doren; non-technical, own-it

Mundo nuevo, ahora, un; Tolle; own-it, non-technical
Continuous Delivery; Humble, Farley; own-it
Java Concurrency in Practice (JCIP); Goetz
Thinking fast and slow; Kahneman; non-technical
Your money or your life (+); Dominguez, Robin; finance, non-technical, own-it
five dysfunctions of a team: a leadership fable, the; Lencioni; non-technical
Who rules the world?; Chomsky; non-technical, own-it
Random walk down wall street a; Malkiel [Part IV]; own-it

wip (2):

Hombre multiorgásmico, el; Chía, Arava; own-it, non-technical
Object-Oriented Design Heuristics; Riel
4 pillars of investment, the; Bernstein; own-it, finance, non-technical

done:

Hombre en busca del sentido, el; Frankl; own-it, non-technical
Metamorfosis; Kafka; own-it, non-technical
Your money or your life; Dominguez, Robin; non-technical, finance, own-it
Traction; Wickman; own-it, non-technical
How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life; Pigliucci; own-it, non-technical
Guide to the Good Life, The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, a; Irvine; non-technical, own-it
goal, the; Goldratt (+); own-it
Random walk down wall street a; Malkiel [Parts I, II, III]; own-it

rejected:

Stanger in a strange land; Heinlein; own-it, non-technical

lists:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/246177-rob?shelf=non-fiction-for-humans
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/451.Best_Philosophy_Book
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8379.Software_Craftsmanship
https://blog.ycombinator.com/ycs-2017-summer-reading-list/
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/107321.TI2011_Course
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/12287.Fog_Creek_Software_Management_Training_Program
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/12351.Books_on_Stoic_Philosophy; non-technical
Tom clancy’s power plays
https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/17969-11-top-positive-psychology-books-that-will-improve-your-work-and-life
Investing: http://efficientfrontier.com/reading.htm; finance
Investing, personal finance: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5876938-tyler?shelf=personal-finance; finance
Investing: http://lemkingroup.com/ListOfPersonalFinanceBooks.html#SelectedWebSites; finance
High performance organizations: https://github.com/pdfernhout/High-Performance-Organizations-Reading-List
For becoming a manager / team management: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16151067
Hacker news

past-done:

Prince, the; Macchiavello; non-technical, own-it
Nuevo kama-sutra ilustrado, el; Gallotti; non-technical
Quien se ha llevado mi queso; Johnson; own-it
One minute manager, the; Blanchard; own-it, non-technical
En defensa de los ociosos; Stevenson; non-technical, own-it
Ladybird Book of Mindfulness, the (Ladybirds for Grown-Ups); Hazeley, Morris; non-technical
Art of the start, the; Kawasaki; own-it, non-technical
Getting started with NoFap; non-technical
Emotional intelligence; Goleman; non-technical
Old man’s war; Scalzi; non-technical, own-it
Nightfall; Asimov, Silverberg; own-it, non-technical
Interface; Stephenson, George; non-technical, own-it
Man who sold the moon, the; Heinlein; own-it, non-technical
Agents of innocence; Ignatius; own-it, non-technical
Fist of god, the; Forsyth; own-it, non-technical
Avaro, el; Molière; own-it, non-technical
Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing, the; Larimore, Lindauer, LeBoeuf; own-it, non-technical, finance
Lazyperson’s guide to investment; Farrell; own-it, non-technical, finance
Millionaire next door, the; Stanley, Danko; own-it, non-technical, finance
Little Book of Common Sense Investing; Bogle; own-it, non-technical, finance
Monje que vendió su Ferrari, el; Sharma; own-it, non-technical
Siddhartha; Hesse; non-technical, own-it
If you can: how millenials can get rich slowly; Bernstein; own-it, non-technical, finance
Odessa; Forsyth; non-technical, own-it
Bogle on mutual funds: new perspectives for the intelligent investor; Bogle; own-it, non-technical, finance
Perros de la guerra, los; Forsyth; own-it, non-technical
avaro y el oro, el; Esopo; non-technical
Aulularia; Plauto; own-it, non-technical
Alternativa del Diablo, la; Forsyth; own-it, non-technical
Guía, el; Forsyth; own-it, non-technical
Pied piper; Forsyth; own-it, non-technical
Hunt for the Red October, the; Clancy; own-it, non-technical
Time to kill, a; Grisham; own-it, non-technical
Ética promiscua; Easton, Hardy; own-it, non-technical
Checklist manifesto, the; Gawande; own-it, non-technical
Team geek (+); own-it
Kata de la voluntad; non-technical
Obstacle is the way, the; non-technical
Guide to stoicism, a; Stock; own-it, non-technical
Senior software developer, the; Copeland; own-it
Scandal in Bohemia, a; Doyle; own-it
Getting things done, …; Allen (+); own-it, non-technical
Nature of Software Development, the; Jeffries; own-it
Team Geek; Fitzpatrick, Collins-Sussman; own-it
Aprendo Yoga; Van Lysebeth; non-technical, own-it
Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers, the; Martin; own-it
ML for the working programmer, 2nd edition [5th chapter only]; Paulson; own-it
Lazarillo de Tormes, el; anónimo; non-technical
Tom Clancy’s power plays - Politika; Preisler; own-it, non-technical
Moon is a harsh mistress, the; Heinlein; own-it, non-technical
Tus zonas erróneas; Dyer; non-technical, own-it
Peopleware; DeMarco, Lister (+); own-it
Phoenix project, the ; Kim, Behr, Spafford; own-it
Ética a Nicómaco; Aristotle; own-it, non-technical
Book of transformation; Dalai Lama; non-technical
Como ganar amigos e influir sobre las personas; Carnegie (+); own-it
Oliver Twist; Dickens; own-it, non-technical
Building evolutionary architecture; Ford, Parsons; own-it
Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing To Us; Storr. Just chapter 1: The dying self; own-it, non-technical
Sota la cistella; Gasol; own-it, non-technical