What’s the point of having countless books and libraries, whose titles could hardly be read through in a lifetime. The learner is not taught, but burdened by the sheer volume, and it’s better to plant the seeds of a few authors than to be scattered about by many.
~Seneca, On Tranquillity of Mind, 9.4

The following list is a set of books that I’ve found quite useful. There are so many more that I’d like to read and hope to get too. I’ve taken to following a Tim Ferriss like approach, where he only chooses books that have been out for more than a year, and has a high number of good reviews.

It’s Good To Be You

  • Guy Martin My Autobiography ~Guy Martin
  • Worms To Catch ~Guy Martin
  • When You Dead You Dead -Guy Martin
  • The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck ~Mark Manson

My wife bought me first of the Guy Martin books after I started watching a bunch of his videos. He’s pretty is own man, doing his own thing, and you can see how grounded he is. Yeah, he’s a bit old, but that doesn’t matter, does it.

Software Craftsmanship

  • Clean Architecture ~Robert C. Martin (aka Uncle Bob)
  • The Pragmatic Programmer ~David Thomas & Andrew Hunt
  • The Software Craftsman ~Sandro Mancuso

DevOps

  • The Goal ~Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
  • The Unicorn Project ~Gene Kim
  • The Phoenix Project ~Gene Kim

These 3 books are all stories designed to get concepts across, making for a fun read. The Goal isn’t about DevOps bit it’s key to understanding constraints. Gene Kim’s books fun reads that aren’t just about key concepts of DevOps, but also over coming the non-technical organisation challenges of getting the work done.

Discovering The Stoics

  • The Obstacle Is The Way ~Ryan Holiday
  • Ego Is The Enemy ~Ryan Holiday
  • The Daily Stoic 365 Meditations On Wisdom, Perseverance, And The Art Of Living ~Ryan Holiday
  • Life to the Fullest ~Darrin Donnelly
  • Think Like A Warrior ~Darrin Donnelly
  • Victory Favors The Fearless ~Darrin Donnelly
  • Old School Grit ~Darrin Donnelly
  • Relentless Optimism ~Darrin Donnelly
  • Tribe Of Mentors ~Tim Ferriss

I think, I first heard about Ryan Holiday work in a podcast on The Tim Ferriss Show.

Darrin Donnelly’s books are sporting stories of a challenging situation is overcome by a particular focused approach. I found they inspired a bit of confidence and that values presented align well with those of the stoics.

Productivity

  • Deep Work ~Cal Newport

Cal Newport’s book is a great mix of historical stories and practical advice. As a result it made it pretty easy for me to figure out how to apply aspects to my own life, and improve my throughput.

Sailing

  • Higher Performance Sailing ~Frank Bethwaite
  • Fast Handling Technique ~Frank Bethwaite

Okay, so a little bit off topic from developing software solutions, but these are so good, and must reads if you’re looking to pickup how some key dynamics of sailing work.

Good Reads

The following are good reads, they are not great, well, weren’t for me at the time. However they may grab your interest. I’ve found the suitability of a book for me sometimes quite reflective of where I’m at with my own level of learning.

  • Slipstream Time Hacking ~Benjamin P. Hardy
  • We Need To Weaken The Mixture ~Guy Martin
  • Stillness Is The Key ~Ryan Holiday
  • How To Lead When You’re Not In Charge ~Clay Scroggins
  • Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance ~Robert Pirsig