SoapyDeuce reviewed Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller
Practical advice
4 stars
Interesting and useful framing for understanding how violence happens in the real world. It also feels like a good jumping-off point for other books on the subject.
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SoapyDeuce reviewed Leadership Is Language by L. David Marquet
One of the better general-purpose management books
5 stars
The title makes it seem like this book is about simply expanding your vocabulary, but it's really more than that. It's about changing the underlying ideas and methods of leadership by moving away from Industrial Age attitudes about who decides what and who builds what, and moving it toward a model where all employees have the ability and responsibility to make decisions. The new model is a generalization of Agile product development and thus it gets a bit hand-wavy in parts, but the basic ideas are compelling, and thoughtful examples are provided.
The title makes it seem like this book is about simply expanding your vocabulary, but it's really more than that. It's about changing the underlying ideas and methods of leadership by moving away from Industrial Age attitudes about who decides what and who builds what, and moving it toward a model where all employees have the ability and responsibility to make decisions. The new model is a generalization of Agile product development and thus it gets a bit hand-wavy in parts, but the basic ideas are compelling, and thoughtful examples are provided.
A groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of …
Super interesting
5 stars
A really interesting and surprisingly fun read. As this is now around 20 years old, I'd love to see an updated version or Part 2 with all the research that has been done in recent years.
A really interesting and surprisingly fun read. As this is now around 20 years old, I'd love to see an updated version or Part 2 with all the research that has been done in recent years.
SoapyDeuce reviewed There Are No Accidents by Jessie Singer
We hear it all the time: “Sorry, it was just an accident.” And we’ve been …
A Must Read
4 stars
This is one of those books that wakes you up. You'll begin to see through the PR distortions of those who want to set a narrative of innocence in order to hide their own negligence and greed.
This is one of those books that wakes you up. You'll begin to see through the PR distortions of those who want to set a narrative of innocence in order to hide their own negligence and greed.
For twenty years, the lessons from The Pragmatic Programmer have helped a generation of programmers …
Full of good, hard-earned advice
4 stars
This book has a lot of good advice. Many of the lessons are things you would only otherwise learn after many years in the profession. The only thing that I think is missing is a bit more nuance to the discussions. Some advice is good, but limited by company policies, for example.
SoapyDeuce reviewed Watergate by Garrett M. Graff
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky, comes …
An expansive, complete telling
5 stars
An impressive, comprehensive review of an expansive and frankly weird story.
SoapyDeuce reviewed Peopleware by Tom DeMarco
Two of the computer industry's most popular authors and lecturers return with a new edition …
Still one of the best books about software development
5 stars
SoapyDeuce reviewed The Mysteries by Bill Watterson
From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and John …
Really interesting art and a nice fable
4 stars
SoapyDeuce reviewed Staff Engineer's Path by Tanya Reilly
For years, companies have rewarded their most effective engineers with management positions. But treating management …
Fine, but not that helpful
4 stars
The groundbreaking investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the …
An important, depressing, and infuriating read
5 stars
There are a lot of lessons to be taken from this book, many of which should have been learned after Vietnam which shares many of the same characteristics as the war in Afghanistan. The fact that so many generals and lawmakers were ignorant (willfully or not) of the many similarities and the inevitable outcomes is both depressing and infuriating. The same hubris, ignorance, and wishful thinking that ran through both conflicts resulted in billions of dollars and thousands of lives wasted.
This book goes into depth on research that shows how DevOps techniques can make technology …
Okay, but there are probably better options
3 stars
The strategies and tactics that the book espouses are all well and good, but there's no depth to the suggestions and writing style leaves a lot to be desired. It feels like a series of academic blog posts about survey results instead of a technical manual for how to implement the changes that it wants you to make. As of 2024, it also feels a bit dated; only the most conservative, dysfunctional organizations aren't doing the basic things that the book suggests.
The strategies and tactics that the book espouses are all well and good, but there's no depth to the suggestions and writing style leaves a lot to be desired. It feels like a series of academic blog posts about survey results instead of a technical manual for how to implement the changes that it wants you to make. As of 2024, it also feels a bit dated; only the most conservative, dysfunctional organizations aren't doing the basic things that the book suggests.
Go is rapidly becoming the preferred language for building web services. While there are plenty …
A practical and helpful guide to learning Go
4 stars
This book provides many of the idioms and short-cuts to learning Go that you otherwise have to learn from experience. It's not trying to be a "complete reference" type of book that spends 1000 pages covering every detail. Some topics are skimmed over a bit, while others that are more unique to Go or appear quirky to programmers that know other languages are given more explanation.
Be sure to check the errata on the publisher's website before diving deep into the book.
This book provides many of the idioms and short-cuts to learning Go that you otherwise have to learn from experience. It's not trying to be a "complete reference" type of book that spends 1000 pages covering every detail. Some topics are skimmed over a bit, while others that are more unique to Go or appear quirky to programmers that know other languages are given more explanation.
Be sure to check the errata on the publisher's website before diving deep into the book.
SoapyDeuce rated Managing the Unmanageable: 3 stars
SoapyDeuce rated Implementing Domain-Driven Design: 4 stars
Implementing Domain-Driven Design by Vaughn Vernon
Implementing Domain-Driven Design presents a top-down approach to understanding domain-driven design (DDD) in a way that fluently connects strategic patterns …
SoapyDeuce reviewed CQRS by Example by Carlos Buenosvinos
Command-Query Responsibility Segregation is an architectural style for developing applications that split the Domain Model …
Clear and concise explanation of CQRS
4 stars
A thorough and easy-to-follow explanation of the composition and tradeoffs of CQRS systems. There is one chapter about Event Sourcing which provides the theoretical and practical contrasts between the two approaches.
This is a code-heavy book and the code is written in PHP, but it's pretty clear and should be easy to translate to other languages.
Having at least a minimal understanding of Domain Driven Design would be helpful before reading this book.
A thorough and easy-to-follow explanation of the composition and tradeoffs of CQRS systems. There is one chapter about Event Sourcing which provides the theoretical and practical contrasts between the two approaches.
This is a code-heavy book and the code is written in PHP, but it's pretty clear and should be easy to translate to other languages.
Having at least a minimal understanding of Domain Driven Design would be helpful before reading this book.