Analytics

Sunday, April 4, 2010

My Comprehensive Reading List

Recently I decided to track all the books I have read since I graduated college and compile them into one comprehensive list.  What I discovered was that I have read many technical books and that my interests lie in a few discrete other areas.  All the books I have read contribute to my career path and my personal life in some way, and I try to apply anything I learned from reading.  I am interested to see what has influenced you as a developer as well as a person.

I welcome any recommendations, suggestions, thoughts, or criticisms related to these readings.  I am particularly interested in the category I labeled as "Social Science", as I think the themes in those books correlate with the software workplace in many ways, but with a different perspective.  On the same note, I am always looking for the inspiring novel or story to sharpen up the emotional side of my brain.

Technical
  • The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
  • Ship It!: A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects, by Jared Richardson, Will Gwaltney, Jr
  • Domain Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software, by Eric Evans 
  • Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship, by Robert C. Martin
  • Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Hardcover), by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John M. Vlissides
  • Head First Design Patterns, by Eric T Freeman, Elisabeth Robson, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra
  • Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process, by Craig Larman
  • Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide, by Craig Larman
  • Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, and William Opdyke
  • Seam Framework: Experience the Evolution of Java EE, by Michael Juntao Yuan, Jacob Orshalick, Thomas Heute
  • Maven: A Developer's Notebook, by Vincent Massol and Timothy M. O'Brien
  • JBoss RichFaces 3.3, by Demetrio Filocamo
  • Getting Started with Grails, by Jason Rudolph
  • Grails in Action, by Glen Smith and Peter Ledbrook
  •  Driving Technical Change, by Terrance Ryan
  • The Agile Samurai, by Jonathan Rasmusson
  • Getting Real, by 37Signals
  • Programming in Groovy, by Venkat Subramaniam
  • Building and Testing with Gradle, by Tim Berglund and Matthew McCullough  
  • Practices of an Agile Developer, by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt
  • Manage It, by Johanna Rothman 
  • Joel on Software, by Joel Spolsky
  • Theory of Relativity, an intuitive explanation, by Jeffrey Bennet   
Social Sciences
  • Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, by Charles Wheelan
  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Kluge: The Haphazard Evolution of the Human Mind, by Gary Marcus 
  • First Things First, by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill 
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey
  • Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
  • The World is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas L. Friedman
  • Ethics for Everyone, by Arthur Dobrin
  • The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, by Jonathan Haidt 
  • Shalom in the Home: Smart Advice for a Peaceful Life, by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach  
  • The Principle of the Path: Smart Advice for a Peaceful Life, by Andy Stanley
  •  Under the Banner of Heaven, by John Krakauer
  • The Big Short, by Michael Lewis
  • God the failed Hypothesis, by Victor Stenger
  • God is not Great, by Christopher Hitchens 
  • Discover your Inner Economist, by Tyler Cowen 
  • Liar's Poker, by Michael Lewis 
  • The End of Faith, by Sam Harris 
  • Moneyball, by Michael Lewis  
  • Freedom At Midnight, by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre  
  •  Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg
  • It Starts With Food, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig 
  • Free Lunch, David Johnston 
  • Predictable Irrational, Dan Arielly 
  • Bonobo and the Atheist, Frans De Waal 
     Biographies
    • Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
    • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
    • Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth, by Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi
    • The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson
    • Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, by Jules Tygiel
    • Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir, by John McCain and Mark Salter
    • Hang Time: Days And Dreams With Michael Jordan, by Bob Greene
    • Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made, by David Halberstam 
    • It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, by Lance Armstrong 
    • Crazy Horse and Custer, by Stephen Ambrose
    • The Color of Water, by James McBride
    • Lessons From a Third Grade Dropout, by Rick Rigsby
    • The 5 Love Languages, by Gary Chapman
    • Unbroken, by Lauren Hildenbrand
    Novels
    • A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini
    • And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini
    • For One More Day, by Mitch Albom 
    • The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom 
    • Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
    • The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
    • Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson, by Mitch Albom
    • The Twentieth Wife, by Indu Sundaresan 
    • On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
    • Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby
    • The Alchemist, by Paolo Coehlo 
    • The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson 
    • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson
    • The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
    • The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
    • Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins  
    • Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
    • The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks
    •  True North, by Jim Harrison
    Parenting
    • How to Really Love Your Child, by D. Ross Campbell 
    • Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents, by Christine Carter
    • 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12, by Thomas W. Phelan
    • Toddler 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice for Your Toddler, by Denise Fields and Ari Brown
    • Fatherhood, by Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint
    • Bavy 411, by Dr. Ari Brown