What books did you read this year?
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
The only tech books I tend to buy are the O'Reilly pocket references
I understand that. I originally read Petzold's Programming Win 3.1 & a bunch of Steve Holzner books to learn how to program. Those books & Jeff Prosise's MFC book made me kind of fall in love with great tech writing. But, of course, tech books are huge business & 80% or more are just to make money.
Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Alan Dean Foster
I read a lot of Alan Dean Foster in the 80s. I remember reading Splinter of the Mind's Eye[^] (the first ever Star Wars side story) when I was 13 and it just blew my mind to get this additional knowledge about Luke & Leaia & Darth Vader. Of course, later it was all ignored - not part of the SW Canon. I read it again in modern (2000 or so) times and it was interesting.
Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Robert Heinlein
One of my all-time favorites. I loved Red Planet[^], Tunnel In the Sky and many more. :thu
raddevus wrote:
One of my all-time favorites. I loved Red Planet[^], Tunnel In the Sky and many more. :thumbsup:
Do not forget "Friday"
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Right, I suspect it's to avoid the bad rep of "in-app purchases", but this is not the answer.
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Mike Hankey wrote:
we probably have around 500 books
Just don't ever move to a new house. :-D I had a lot of books until we moved & then I got rid of all but my favorites (admittedly this is still a lot). Moving books is harsh -- they are so heavy.
Yes they are but I love the feel of a book.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
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PIEBALDconsult wrote:
They now make you use the website to buy the book rather than buying through the app
Yeah that is kind of crazy, I think it was a advertising regulation thing because they somehow got an unfair trade advantage. I don't think it was their idea. Not sure.
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Google raised the cut they take from "in-app" purchases so Amazon changed their Kindle App to now allow in-app purchases.
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charlie "tremendous" jones
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
I read a number of books this year, but there were two that stood out as the absolute best. One technical book in particular was fantastic: clearly written & covered the topic (& went beyond the topic) very well: Microservices in .NET, Second Edition[^] Many of you may have rolled your eyes bec of the word microservices, but this is a very balanced look & explains details of .NET Core really well. If you're building (or wanting to ) WebAPIs you'll really like this one. The other book I read this year which was absolutely amazing was Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness[
I couldn't lately read as much as I used to before. Currently I am re-reading an historic novel by Jean-Michel Thibaux called something like "The mistery of the Sion Priory". Before that I read "Zero" and "Blackout" by Marc Elsberg and the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larson. The next ones are going to be revisiting some by Robert Lundlum (i.e. The apocalypse watch or some of the "Covert one" serie I have around here) or by Frank Schätzing (i.e. Limit).
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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charlie "tremendous" jones
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
I read a number of books this year, but there were two that stood out as the absolute best. One technical book in particular was fantastic: clearly written & covered the topic (& went beyond the topic) very well: Microservices in .NET, Second Edition[^] Many of you may have rolled your eyes bec of the word microservices, but this is a very balanced look & explains details of .NET Core really well. If you're building (or wanting to ) WebAPIs you'll really like this one. The other book I read this year which was absolutely amazing was Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness[
I've just finished reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (40+) in published date order.
// TODO: Insert something here
Top ten reasons why I'm lazy 1.
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I've just finished reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (40+) in published date order.
// TODO: Insert something here
Top ten reasons why I'm lazy 1.
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I don't remember. Probably none. At times I have looked at Kindle, but... 0) They seem to charge cover price (or nearly), which is insane 1) They now make you use the website to buy the book rather than buying through the app
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I read very little non-fiction. The only tech books I tend to buy are the O'Reilly pocket references. They are compact and concise introductions and references to their topics, and an excellent resource. I read a lot of science fiction and a minor amount of fantasy. It's a balance of ¾ old stuff I'm re-reading and ¼ new stuff. I can't remember them all, but the following are some of the things I've read in the last year: William C. Deitz Legion of the Damned series Alan Dean Foster Journeys of the Catechist trilogy Robert Heinlein The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, the Future History omnibus collection, Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture series Peter F. Hamilton Void trilogy, Chronicle of the Fallers duology, Salvation Sequence, Great North Road N. K. Jemesin Interitence trilogy, Broken Earth trilogy, The City We Became My daughter manages a college bookstore and my son-in-law owns the town book store in Athens Ohio, so I have a ready supply of reading material.
Software Zen:
delete this;I love these requests - there is almost always a new author or 2 mentioned. Saves me a lot of hunting through the trash in the SF genre to fine the ones worth reading. I currently have 846 SF books in a calibre library.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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When you spend two hours on the train each day, you get a lot of reading done. :)
// TODO: Insert something here
Top ten reasons why I'm lazy 1.
yacCarsten wrote:
When you (are an intelligent person and) spend two hours on the train each day, you get a lot of reading done
:rolleyes: a lot of people just waste their valuable time. For >20 years I had long commutes to work. In the first years I got a lot of speeding tickets. Then I decided to listen to books (on tape, then CD, finally mp3). Honestly changed my life.
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Gerry Schmitz wrote:
Finishing my own "simulation" - Gettysburg
Wow. Are you writing some kind of app, game, or alternative history? I'm fascinated by that sort of thing, especially when it's done well. Of course, my interest lies on the other side of the timeline: military science fiction (Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and Keith Laumer's Bolo series are favorites).
Software Zen:
delete this;It's based on 19th century war gaming; uses rules and tables from that period; and lets you command troop (blocks) over a map. It's all to scale. You send your troops on their way, firing and engaging in hand-to-hand. They suffer loss, fatigue, get dispersed; "chance" is used for the friction of war. You can study history. Test your maneuvering skills. Set up your own scenarios. It's not "multi-player" (yet) but it can be (now) using "turns". The AI by itself will defend, so you can try to rewrite history by assaulting Cemetery Hill again. You can zoom, rotate the map, scroll, drag and rotate units during setup, a distance "ruler", mini map, lines of sight / range, slow down - speed up, pause, etc. So, some things you don't usually find.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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And all very well written. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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charlie "tremendous" jones
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
I read a number of books this year, but there were two that stood out as the absolute best. One technical book in particular was fantastic: clearly written & covered the topic (& went beyond the topic) very well: Microservices in .NET, Second Edition[^] Many of you may have rolled your eyes bec of the word microservices, but this is a very balanced look & explains details of .NET Core really well. If you're building (or wanting to ) WebAPIs you'll really like this one. The other book I read this year which was absolutely amazing was Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness[
No technical books for me right now. Am reading a bunch of books in Indian languages - predominantly Sanskrit and Kannada - some books written more than three hundred years ago. Have recently learnt to read Tamil script also, and have started reading elementary kids books in Tamil.
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charlie "tremendous" jones
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
I read a number of books this year, but there were two that stood out as the absolute best. One technical book in particular was fantastic: clearly written & covered the topic (& went beyond the topic) very well: Microservices in .NET, Second Edition[^] Many of you may have rolled your eyes bec of the word microservices, but this is a very balanced look & explains details of .NET Core really well. If you're building (or wanting to ) WebAPIs you'll really like this one. The other book I read this year which was absolutely amazing was Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness[
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No technical books for me right now. Am reading a bunch of books in Indian languages - predominantly Sanskrit and Kannada - some books written more than three hundred years ago. Have recently learnt to read Tamil script also, and have started reading elementary kids books in Tamil.
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charlie "tremendous" jones
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
I read a number of books this year, but there were two that stood out as the absolute best. One technical book in particular was fantastic: clearly written & covered the topic (& went beyond the topic) very well: Microservices in .NET, Second Edition[^] Many of you may have rolled your eyes bec of the word microservices, but this is a very balanced look & explains details of .NET Core really well. If you're building (or wanting to ) WebAPIs you'll really like this one. The other book I read this year which was absolutely amazing was Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness[
Lots, as I read SF and fantasy too. From a technical POV I'd say Windows Internals Vol 1 and 2. And because I wanted to refresh my memory: Essential COM. Found an error in Essential COM. :)
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Lots, as I read SF and fantasy too. From a technical POV I'd say Windows Internals Vol 1 and 2. And because I wanted to refresh my memory: Essential COM. Found an error in Essential COM. :)
Bruno van Dooren wrote:
Windows Internals Vol 1 and 2
That's some very in-depth reading there.
Bruno van Dooren wrote:
Found an error in Essential COM
Interesting. Are you doing COM work? I did some with some h/w micrometers which connected to Windows NT 4 / Windows 2000 (long time ago).
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Bruno van Dooren wrote:
Windows Internals Vol 1 and 2
That's some very in-depth reading there.
Bruno van Dooren wrote:
Found an error in Essential COM
Interesting. Are you doing COM work? I did some with some h/w micrometers which connected to Windows NT 4 / Windows 2000 (long time ago).
Not currently. I used to work as a low level programmer (IPC, services, drivers, ...) and was Microsoft MVP for a couple of years. I quit programming because I wanted to be around for my kids and took a sysadmin job close to home. Earlier this year I started programming again, in my own time on some pet projects, and I've started writing a book. COM (specifically the details of the security aspects involved in impersonation) is one of the topics I am touching on so I dusted off my copy of Essential COM and did some research because I wanted to understand the nitty gritty. I started writing here again as well and for my own piece of mind, when I write something I want to REALLY understand every last little detail.
