The best part of reading is forgetting.
This is why I struggle with book reviews—it’s hard to know how
valuable a book is until later. But sometimes you find yourself
declaiming a book’s key point long after you’ve forgotten most of
it.
That’s when you know a book is worthwhile.
Here are some books I’ve forgotten most of, mostly from memory:
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
This book explains the life you can feel in some neighborhoods. And
the complete sterility of others.
🌠 What I remember: The normalcy of strangers makes
a neighborhood safer.
Mixing offices, shops, restaurants, and family housing in a single
neighborhood creates a diversity of use, making the place lively. And
there will always be eyes on the street, day or night.
Neighborhoods feel sterile when strangers seem out of place. When a
stranger is a common sight: you’ve found a community.
Metadata
- Title: The Death and Life of Great American Cities
- Author: Jane Jacobs
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How to Read a Book
I read every day.
But much of what I read is garbage—pulp sci-fi or book-of-the-month
junk I’ll have forgotten I read by year’s end.
🌠 What I remember: There are different levels of
reading. And each book demands its own style of reading.
tl;dr: spend less effort (and feel less guilty) reading Malcolm
Gladwell vs. Darwin.
Metadata
- Title: How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent
Reading - Author: Mortimer J Adler and Charles Van Doren
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Library - Bookshop
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The Manager’s Path
Almost every page in my dog-eared copy of “The Manager’s Path” is
underlined, scribbled in, or marked up.
🌠 What I remember:
- Management is a different skillset vs. development
- Deliver feedback quickly (especially if it’s negative)
- Using manager powers to override technical decisions is a bad
idea - Never surprise your direct reports
Metadata
- Title: The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating
Growth and Change - Author: Camille Fournier
- Worldcat
- Open
Library - Bookshop
- Bookwyrm
The E-Myth Revisited
Few people win medals in the final round of the biggest
homebrewing competition on the planet. I’ve won two.
In college, I was certain I’d open a brewery. Then, in senior year, I
read “The E-Myth Revisited” and changed my mind.
🌠 What I remember: the technical work of a business
has little to do with running the business.
I have zero interest in the operations of a brewery—I’m just a guy
who likes beer. Why ruin that by making it my job?
Metadata
- Title: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work
and What to Do About It - Author: Michael Gerber
- Worldcat
- Open
Library - Bookshop
- Bookwyrm
Storytelling with Data
Once you know how to make a good graph, you’ll see bad graphs
everywhere.
🌠 What I remember:
- Pie charts are tricky for most people to read (see also Stephen
Few’s “Save
the Pies for Dessert”) - Sometimes the best data representation is a table
- Only use colors in a graph if they mean something
My personal pet peve: the default Google Sheets chart colors
(*shudder*)
Metadata
- Title: Storytelling with Data
- Author: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
- Worldcat
- Open
Library - Bookshop
- Bookwyrm
The Elements of Style
🌠 What I remember: omit needless words.
But really—how necessary is “needless” in that dictum?
Metadata
- Title: The Elements of Style
- Author: William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
- Worldcat
- Open
Library - Bookshop
- Bookwyrm
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