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Comment by creamytaco | Hacker News Reader

Not a single one of these books is worth reading imo.

I've read The Pragmatic Programmer and large chunks of the Unwritten Laws of Engineering.

They're excellent books, but they're targeted for early career developers and people struggling to figure out the office work life. It's fair to say that you're probably not the target audience, but they're really great books for their niche.

I'm also extremely interested in the idea of reading a book about remote work after reading the blog.

Maybe it's not Remote, but I should definitely read a book about working remotely, considering I do it for so much of my time.

Anything you recommend instead?

Personally, I got a lot of value from Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann.

Omitting “the mythical man-month” under maybe the assumption that everyone has read it is a mistake. And anyone who hasn’t read it probably should - I get stuff like my company’s c-suite and directors asking for things that make it clear they haven’t read it, I really have to fight the urge to gift them a copy of the book.

Ask the collective: https://hackernewsbooks.com/

* Mythical Man Month (Experience)

* Rapid Development (Profession)

* Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (You're not alone, we all share this.)

* The War of Art (At 9am, you are alone.)

* Competitive Advantage (Porter, a personal choice, it's not about the bytes.)

The War of Art * is a must read for anyone and everyone.

* For those who don't already know, it's a very quick read. And the type of book you'll gladly reread every one to three years.

> Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Exceptional in every way.

I don't think you meant this to be as absolute as it sounds, but as someone currently reading it, I find the asides, especially ones that focus on the nuances of a word's definition, such as "atomic", "consistent", etc. to be tedious while simultaneously lacking in clarity. I hope if Kleppmann ever does a 2nd edition that strips out some of this stuff and adds more examples, because most of his sales are probably from people like me who are job searching but lack distributed system design chops.

I did. And it is. There is no such book out there that covers breadth and sufficient depth at the expense of minor pedantry (that you're alluding to) without losing much meaning. For most engineers, being familiar with pros and cons of technology is far more important than nuances of terminology. They can and should investigate each topic more deeply when time comes.

I repeat with emphasis: It is exceptional in every way possible. Improvements that you suggest should be addressed if it doesn't take away from the breadth + detail and only make it more clear.

I felt like parent first time I was reading and abandoned after a couple chapters. Went back recently and read it through. Wow. Agree with you. One of the best books I’ve read, could be improved but it’s definitely in a tier beyond the majority of books in our field.

They do look lame. Spoiler: the 5 books are

* The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development

* The Pragmatic Programmer - your journey to mastery(20th Anniversary Edition)

* Unwritten Laws of Engineering - Second Edition

* Remote: Office Not Required

* Explain the Cloud Like I’m 10

I can't speak for the other books, but The Pragmatic Programmer is one of my favorites.

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