An Introduction to General Systems Thinking: Silver Anniversary Edition by Gerald M. Weinberg The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully by Gerald M. Weinberg Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach by Gerald M. Weinberg Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method by Gerald M. Weinberg
by Daniel DefoeWritten 1722 The years 1665-1666 were rough for London. 1665 brought plague, and 1666 brought a city-wide fire. This book contains a fictionalized account of that plague year of 1665. Defoe, writing 50+ years hence, constructed a narrative based upon research in journals from that era. In providing an account of these interesting times, this book provides several interesting interludes. Like the story of a naked Quaker who walked the streets. Or how…
by Gerald M. WeinbergCopyright (c) 1998, 1971 This book is misnamed, as the author admits. It should be named “The Anthropology of Computer Programming.” It studies the culture of computer programming rather than the psychology of the practice. Fortunately, despite being written over forty years ago, it succeeds at its task for the reader today as well as for the original reader. If you can move past the references to dated languages and programming practices,…
by E. Fuller Torrey and Judy Miller(c) Copyright 2002. This book, written in part by a psychiatrist with expert knowledge of schizophrenia, addresses the question of why mental illness has become increasingly pervasive since 1750. Starting with this date and proceeding towards the present, Torrey and Miller make a commanding case that the prevalence of mental illness has increased steadily since the age of Enlightenment, at least in English-speaking countries. The argument is forceful. They…
Madness & Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason by Michel Foucault A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
by Stephen Few(c) Copyright 2013. Dashboards are a hot topic in our information-laden world. They are imagined by those in the design world (often very poorly) and implemented by programmers who do not take their imagination any further. This book, written by an acknowledged expert in the field of visualization, describes how to design dashboards that communicate essential data to users, mostly business-people. As such, its audience consists of designers, not programmers. Although I am…
by Maxwell KingAudiobook Fred Rogers, a.k.a. Mr Rogers, grew up the son of a rich businessman, majored in music at college, got into television in the early years of NBC, studied at seminary to become a Presbyterian minister, started children’s television at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, and extended children’s television into education with PBS. He is fondly remembered as being extraordinarily patient with children just by being himself. A generation of children –…
Translated by Charles H. WrightFifth century C.E. Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was a British heathen-turned-missionary who spent his life “civilizing” or “Christianizing” the Irish. Though affiliated with the Roman church, Patrick was remarkably free of scholastic learning. As such, he represents a distinct wing of the church’s intellectual tradition. While the Western church was becoming other-worldly (and overbearing), Patrick and his Irish converts emphasized the worldly usefulness of faith. This confession was…
The Elements of Programming Style by Brian W. Kernighan and P.J. Plauger Literate Programming by Donald E. Knuth Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective by Diomidis Spinellis Tutorial: Human Factors in Software Development Edited by Bill Curtis
by Steve McConnellCopyright (c) 2004 Code Complete is a 850-page tome which might serve as Computer Science guru-author Steve McConnell’s magnum opus. His presentation addresses an audience that spans programmers at the beginning level, intermediate level, and advanced level. With its wide-ranging scope, it fills in any computer scientist’s holes of knowledge. Units are filled with a handful of chapters each and consist of foundations, producing high-quality code, variables, statements, improvements, systemic issues, and craftsmanship. McConnell…