I like to read non-fiction books. Not only about programming, you get to read a lot of that on the internet, but also about other sides of life in general.
Please note that allthough this top 3 contains 2 books about programming, I value these books because they offer a broad scope on the topics they discuss. The knowledge they try to spread is applicable to other fields.
- Quantum theory cannot hurt you by Marcus Chown
- Collective intelligence by Toby Segaran
- Deploying Rails Applications by Ezra Zygmuntowicz, Bruce Tate & Clinton Begin
The “Quantum theory” book is by far the most fascinating stuff I’ve ever read. It made me listen to spoken books by Stephen Hawking. Great to listen to in bed and fall asleep while dreaming of white dwarfs and black holes. Must-buy-that-one!
Other books I like to advice to people are The Purple Cow by Seth Godin, Pragmatic Version Control by Mike Mason and The Four Hour Work Week by Tim(othy) Ferriss.
Footnote:
Funny thing is, allthough I kind of hate marketing, it’s part of what I do, it’s what I read about sometimes. Maybe it’s to be more conscious about the tactics used by “those people”. And I do make money with it … You could argue that people should decide for themselves.
They got us believing that marketing does not affect us
But that’s the weird thing about all this: people acknowledge that they are being bullied constantly by commercials. And at the same time they believe it does not affect them. That’s the greatest achievement of the marketeers I think. They got us believing that marketing does not affect us.
( Note to self: you are writing this post while typing on a Mac, drinking Coca Cola and sitting in a designer chair. )