Tag: book-reviews
Book Review: Shop Class as Soulcraft - An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
A thoughtful and intelligent deep dive into the origins of 'shop class,' the values of skilled manual labor, and the erosion of those skills due to their devaluation in education.
Read articleBook Review: Digital Minimalism - Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Since the proliferation of the smartphone tech companies have figured out how to grab our attention with surgical precision. Our online habits have become so pervasive that we are measurably more anxious, less intentional, and they significantly degrade our interpersonal relationships. Digital Minimalism is a philosophy that aims to help you regain control of these habits and live a more meaningful and purposeful life.
Read articleBook Review: Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management For Mortals
The time we have on this planet is incredibly small and finite. Burkeman presents his argument for escaping to-do lists, overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the deluge of things to do. There is no such thing as mastering time, and the sooner we accept this, the sooner we can spend our time doing the things that truly matter.
Read articleBook Review: Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1)
Far in the future, the captain of a small crew and a detective nearing the end of his career begin to unravel a conspiracy that threatens humanity. Earth, Mars, and the Belt vie for control of the greatest scientific discovery in history. The captain, his crew, and the detective are caught in the middle of it.
Read articleBook Review: Weapons of Math Destruction - How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
How faulty and self-fulfilling prediction models can have profound, long-lasting and devastating effects on society. O’Neil, a data scientist with experience in a wide range of industries, from banking to advertising startups, takes us on a deep dive into industries that use poor machine learning models that, willfully or not, have an incredibly negative impact on people’s lives.
Read articleBook Review: Permanent Record
Snowden’s autobiography chronicles his early days with technology, computers, and hacking, as well as his ancestry and its history of public service. He takes us through his journey to answer the call to serve his country after 9/11 in the military, the Intelligence Community, and what ultimately led him to disclose the government’s biggest secret.
Read articleBook Review: Staff Engineer - Leadership Beyond the Management Track
An incredibly thorough and useful resource on what it takes to become a “Staff-plus” engineer. Becoming, and operating as, a staff engineer; writing team strategies; communicating effectively; getting “in the room”; negotiating salaries… It’s all covered here.
Read articleBook Review: Authority
Authority is a fantastic sequel to Annihilation, giving us an inside look into the machinations of The Southern Reach; an old outpost outside of Area X, and the secretive government organization that runs it. It follows the story of its new Director appointed to investigate what happened to the prior expedition, his predecessor, and uncover anything he can about the mysterious Area X.
Read articleBook Review: Annihilation
Annihilation is a captivating story about exploring the unknown, self discovery, and survival. It is less a story and more a personal account of a biologist’s experiences once she enters what is known as Area X. A mysterious coastal territory, Area X is the epicenter of some great natural calamity
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