J3 Engineering Blog

Archive for the ‘Reading List’ Category

• “The Tinkerers”, Alec Foege, Basic Books, 2013
• “The Innovators”, Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 2014
• “Icons and Idiots: Straight Talk on Leadership”, Bob Lutz, Portfolio/Penguin, 2013
• “The Intel Trinity”, Michael S. Malone, Harper Business, 2014
• “Makers: The New Industrial Revolution”, Chris Anderson, Crown Publishers, 2012
• “Ingenious: A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America”, Jason Fagone, Crown Publishers, 2013
• “Startup Communities”, Brad Feld, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012
• “Prisoner’s Dilemma”, William Poundstone, Anchor Books, 1992
• “Turing’s Cathedral”, George Dyson, Pantheon Books, 2012
• “The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation”, John Gertner, The Penguin Press, 2012
• “I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59″, Douglas Edwards, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011
• “The New Cool”, Neal Bascomb, Crown Publishers, 2011
• “Eric Sink on the Business of Software”, Eric Sink, Apress, 2006
• “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation”, Steven Johnson, Riverhead Books, 2010
• “Accidental Empires”, Robert X. Cringely, Harper Business, 1992, 1996
• “Rework”, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (37Signals), 2010
• “Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application”, 37Signals, 2006
• “The Myths of Innovation”, Scott Berkun, O’Reilly Media, 2007
• “Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius”, Marc Seifer, Citadel, 2001
• “Einstein: His Life and Universe”, Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 2008
• “SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance”, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, William Morrow, 2009
• “hackers: heroes of the computer revolution”, Steven Levy, O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2010

As you can see, I like to read a lot! It actually got started about three years ago when I was commuting into NYC from CT on the New Haven line. The train ride alone was approximately an hour; if I got on the train at GCT early and waited, the ride was longer. I will only mention books that are relevant to this discussion:

• “The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm”, Tom Kelley, Doubleday Business, 2001 (read twice)
• “Joel on Software”, Joel Spolsky, Apress, 2004
• “The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon”, Leslie Berlin, Oxford University Press, 2006
• “Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made”, Andy Hertzfeld, O’Reilly Media Inc., 2004
• “The Soul of a New Machine”, Tracy Kidder, Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1978
• “iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It”, Steve Wozniak, W.W. Norton, 2007
• “Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software”, Scott Rosenberg, Three Rivers Press, 2008
• “Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days“, Jessica Livingston, Apress, 2007
• “Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company”, Michael S. Malone, Portfolio Hardcover, 2007

Some other books worth mentioning:

• “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values”, Robert M. Pirsig, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1974
• “A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash“, Sylvia Nasar, Faber And Faber, 2001
• “The Making of the Atomic Bomb”, Richard Rhodes, Simon & Schuster, 1995
• “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century”, Thomas L. Friedman, Farar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005
• “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything“, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, William Morrow, 2005

Additions to the Reading List:

• “Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide: Business thinking and strategies behind successful Web 2.0 implementations”, Amy Shuen, O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2008

• “Smart Start-Ups: How Entrepreneurs and Corporations Can Profit by Starting Online Communities “, David Silver, Wiley, 2007

• “Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality”, Bob Walsh, Apress, 2008

• “More Joel on Software”, Joel Spolsky, Apress, 2008 (read 9/08)

• “Eric Sink on the Business of Software”, Eric Sink, Apress, 2006 (read 4/11)

• “Closing the Innovation Gap:Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy”, Judith L. Estrin, McGraw-Hill, 2008

• “Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Formerly titled ‘The Art of Project Management’)”, Scott Berkun, O’Reilly, 2008

The following is still mentioned in alot of books and journals I read, so I thought it might be worth reading:

• “The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering”, Frederick P. Brooks, Addison-Wesley Professional; 2 edition, 1995

• “Creative Capital”, Spencer E. Ante, Harvard Business School Press, 2008

• “Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond”, Alan Axelrod, Jossey-Bass, 2008