A simple, clean, opinionated, annotated, curated, broad, and literate reading list for Geeks.
All books included here are believed to fit in one of the following rough categories:
- Guide books that are useful to software development and system administrators, either in terms of methodology or technology
- Guide books that are useful to those who manage software development and/or software development-related projects.
- Books which may not be about geekery but may be useful to geeks in terms of personal development.
Comments, when applicable, are at the end of each entry wrapped by curly brackets.
- Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert Martin {If you care about your craft, please read this! I stop (slightly) short of saying all developers should be forced to read this at gunpoint.}
- Implementation Patterns by Kent Beck {Broadly applicable, but the examples are all in Java. Those working in the Java 8+ world will find some (thankfully) outdated suggestions here. Nevertheless, it serves well as a guide for Junior Developers. It should be very basic review for a competent Senior Developer.}
- What To Look For In A Code Review by Trisha Gee
- Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland
- Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
- Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig {I'm not a big jQuery fan, but there's a fair deal to learn about Javascript concepts like closures here.}
- TypeScript Deep Dive by Basarat Ali Syed {Use Typescript and, while you are at it, you might as well read this book to get started.}
- Pro TypeScript: Application-Scale JavaScript Development by Steve Fenton {A must-read for Javascript programmers}
- Exploring ES2016 and ES2017 by Axel Rauschmayer
- Java 8 in Action by Raoul-Gabriel Urma, Mario Fusco, and Alan Mycroft {Even though Java 8 is not so new any more, this is an engaging read and is helpful in grasping streams. This should remain a good guide to some of the "Post Java 8" concepts. }
- Java 9 Modularity: Patterns and Practices for Developing Maintainable Applications by Sander Mak {This is continuing to be relevant in Java 11 and beyond}
- Kotlin in Action {Solid guide to a fun language.}
- The Joy of Kotlin by Pierre-Yves Saumont {Excellent}
- Zero to One Hundred Deploys a Day by Dylan Etkin {THought provoking and practical}
- Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan (Excellent)
- Learning Graphql: Declarative Data Fetching for Modern Web Apps by Eve Procello {Basic intro}
- Learning Git In A Month of Lunches by Rick Umali
- Git in Practice by Mike McQuaid {Not a particularily great read, but informative and ok}
- Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
- Idea Man by Paul Allen
- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic FutureElon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
- iWoz by Steve Wozniak {Meh, not a huge fan of the book...but it is Woz!}
- The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier {Helpful}
- Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
- 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam {A helpful read and a simple concept to grasp.}
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
- The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More FunThe Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
- Time Management for System Administrators: Stop Working Late and Start Working Smart by Thomas Limoncelli
- The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data by Kevin Mitnick
- Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (A profound multi-discipline read)