Summer reading list

As you might have guessed from our book reviews, we like to read. And there’s no better time than during a hot, hazy summer. Not that these won’t do by a cozy fire or during a spring rainshower (so long as you’re inside). After all, books are pretty all-purpose companions. Whatever the season, when you feel the itch to hit the bookstore or local library, maybe you’ll take our suggestions.

Don’t see your favorite? Leave us a comment and let us know what you’ve been reading–just be sure to include author and title information, in case we just have to have it. And if you can’t get enough? Most of our editors can be found occasionally hanging out at Good Reads (it’s like heaven for bookworms).

The Nasty Bits

by Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain is Mister Punk Rock Food. If you’ve seen his show “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel and you’re already a fan, rest assured: he sounds in the book just like he sounds in real life. He cooks the way I wish I could cook, and he writes the way I wish I could write. In “The Nasty Bits”, he collects half-told stories like he collects the scraps from his kitchen, and presses them into this awesome little book. Food people should read him; punk people should read him; food punk people must read him.

Recommended by: Greg DeKoenigsberg is a community guy for Red Hat. If he’s ever in your town, be sure to take him to the cheap, awesome restaurant that the locals never tell anyone about.

The Cartoon Guide to the Computer

by Larry Gonick
The cartoon guide to the computer starts out with an overview of information theory and computer architecture. However, the really interesting part is where it explains the function of a transistor in a digital circuit, shows how a flip-flop works and slowly gets into more and more complex circuits. This goes all the way up to a simple CPU that needs assembly language to be programmed. A nice book for who wants to learn the ideas behind computers at the lowest levels, or who wants to teach those ideas to kids.

The Essays of Warren Buffett

compiled by Lawrence Cunningham.
If the government is going to run out of money before you retire, you will need to learn something about investing. The essays of Warren Buffett will teach you to see through corporate fluff and figure out for yourself whether or not a company is actually run in the best interest of its investors. Unlike many investing books, this book is actually fun to read.

Recommended by:Rik van Riel is a senior software engineer who works on the Linux kernel, especially virtualization and memory management. In his spare time he can be found on rock climbing walls and near barbeques.

Systems Failure: Why governments must learn to think differently

by Jake Chapman, DEMOS.
Systems Failure was written as an introduction to system thinking and system theory. Primarily aimed at the British Government it is a concise and clear explanation of the ideas and concepts built around British examples of systems failing to work which will still make sense to others outside the UK.

System Theory underlies many of the things that are important in any complex system, including the many Red Hat produce. It’s also in many ways the base of the Design Thinking methodologies now being used in Red Hat.

Recommended by: Alan Cox is a fellow at Red Hat primarily working on the kernel. In his spare time he is designing and building railway models and doing Open University courses (something else he’d recommend to anyone who feels their brain is getting a little rusty)

The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball

by Derek Zumsteg
Since it’s summer here in the US, it seemed like a good time to read about our national past-time… baseball. Since baseball is “a game of inches”, it’s not surprising that folks will try anything to get an edge. I particularly liked the section on groundskeeping. Which is going to make me suspicious any time I see a visiting team make an infield error.

Recommended by: Dan Fisher is a lifetime Philadelphia Phillies fan. He’d love to believe the reason they haven’t been to the post-season in over a decade is because the other teams cheat.

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold
Deliciously scary, this novel is sad, provacative, and oddly warm and touching. All at the same time. The entire narrative is told by Susie Salmon, a murdered 14-year old girl. Readers watch through her eyes as her family, friends, and murderer live after she is gone. This is a great beach read–you won’t be able to read it fast enough!

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

by Stephen King
Stephen King is most often associated with the paranormal, the terrific, and the terrifying. Yes, The Shining author has been writing since he was an adolescent. In his memoirs, he describes his real life and his writing life, and how one often inspired the other. If you’re a King fan, or just someone who appreciates a well-crafted sentence, King’s memoirs will inspire you. Even the most literate reader and writer will learn something new. This book improved my writing skills and was a delight to read. Funny and shocking, just like King.

Recommended by: Julie Bryce, Red Hat Magazine writer, editor, and merry beach-goer.

Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software

by Scott Rosenberg
I like the history of computers just about as much as actually making computers work. This book made many fun detours into the history and historical figures of Software Engineering. Donald Knuth, Fred Brooks, and Alan Kay are all pretty big (and interesting) figures in the industry.

Recommended by: Dan Fisher makes web applications in his spare time. Currently he’s driving his wife crazy with a web-ified “Task Tool” that counts down the days until he needs to do the dishes.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

by Robert B. Cialdini
This book describes six principles by which you can influence the choices of others, or if you want to turn that around, principles used by others to influence you. Whether that is for the good — doctors dressing in a certain way to convince you of their authority — or for less than scrupulous reasons — salesmen who give you something relatively worthless so that you have to reciprocate by buying their product — these tricks can be used to fool you into compliance and behaviour that isn’t aligned to your best interests.

This is solid science. The principles have been investigated and tested thoroughly. But Cialdini has an engaging writing style which won’t bore you for a minute. I have read this book through several times over the years. I find it’s good to remind myself how others may be trying to manipulate me.

Recommended by: Richard Jones is a software engineer at Red Hat, where he works on virtualisation technologies. In his spare time he advocates for better software tools and runs a cookery blog.

The Intelligent Investor

by Benjamin Graham
Benjamin Graham was Warren Buffett’s mentor at Columbia University, and is considered by many to be the father of the value investment strategy. The Intelligent Investor was originally published in 1949 and was revised several times by Graham before his death in 1976. Unlike most investment books which are long on inspiration and short on actual investment strategy, The Intelligent Investor urges readers to set realistic expectations for financial returns and then provides strategies for evaluating stocks, bonds, and mutual funds based on your investor profile (defensive investor vs. enterprising investor). The book was updated in 2003 with additional commentary from Jason Zweig that evaluates how well Graham’s strategies have performed since his death. It is the best book on investing that I have ever read.

Should you ever find yourself under the influence of Jim Cramer’s snake oil, read The Intelligent Investor before doing something silly with the money you worked so hard to earn.

Recommended by: Brent Fox works in the Global Support Services group. He enjoys spending time with his family as well as playing guitar and soccer.

Uglies

by Scott Westerfield
The first in a 3-book series of novels intended for young adults, Uglies has been swapped among my friends faster than anything in recent memory. The dystopian trilogy (the others are Pretties and Specials, and you probably want to buy them all at once as they read fast) examines a simple concept–what would happen if plastic surgery–and prettiness–were mandatory? Westerfield follows a girl–just a regular girl–who discovers that being pretty… might not be all that it’s cracked up to be. And that she does have a choice, albeit a very scary one. Great concept, fantastic execution. A fun read for anybody.

Recommended by: Bascha Harris is an editor and web developer. In her spare time, she plays Second Life and generally geeks it up.

Infotopia

by Cass Sunstein
A 10,000 foot view of how markets, deliberation, and newer methods (like wikis and blogs) work to aggregate information and help groups make decisions. Highly recommended to anyone who is involved in group decision-making (that is to say, to everyone.)

Rainbows End

by Vernor Vinge
Scifi set in a very believable near future where information drenches everything via the imaginary bastard child of Google Earth and Second Life. Fun for just about anyone, but particularly for those interested in speculating about how our kids will experience computing.

Recommended by: Luis Villa is an engineer-turned-law student who is interning in Red Hat Legal Affairs.

This entry was posted by Bascha Harris on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 6:07 pm and is filed under review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.