Books

The following is a list of books I’ve read with some associated micro-reviews.

Parenting

Unfudge Yourself: A Parent’s Guide to Happiness: Short, but really good reminder of some basics that can help you be a happier parent. 3/5

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: I think the best productivity book I’ve ever read. This one is a yearly read for me. 5/5
How to Take Smart Notes: An overview of the Zettlekasten method. An inspiring way to take better notes, but this is a long overview that you can probably get a good summary of from reading the wikipedia. 3/5.

How to Be an Antiracist: Incredible book that intersperses the story of the author with an overview of modern racism. This is one I’d recommend that everyone read. 5/5
The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World: The amazing story of how cats got themselves in our houses and our lives. Convincing that cats are basically useless but we love them anyway. 3/5
Spark: The New Science of Exercise and the Brain: A good collection of research informing how exercise has benefits beyond just the physical. However, some of the leaps they make are a little stretched. 3/5
The World Atlas of Coffee: I love James Hoffman, and this book delivers on his charm. This is a true atlas that talks about growing regions, methods of growing, and roasting. If you’re into coffee at all, it’s a good read. 3/5
Back in the Frame: A great read about the joys of getting back on a bike as an adult. I learned a lot from the way that Jools describes the feeling of being a black woman in cycling. It helped me better understand the need for safe and empathetic spaces. And Jools’ love of cycling is contagious. 4/5

Building Microservices: Amazing book on the advantages and disadvantages of building distributed Microservices. A must read for our Microservices future. 5/5
Patterns, Principles, and Practices of Domain-Driven Design: I found this approach to DDD more accessible and useful than The Evans Book. The original is very academic, while this one had lots of ideas about how to apply DDD practices to everyday work. It’s also very good at talking about trade offs and the practice of design over trying to be too prescriptive. 4/5
Staff Engineer: This is the best description of Staff+ roles I’ve ever seen. Featuring interviews from a ton of active staff-level developers, it’s an incredible look into a role that’s often unclearly and poorly defined. 5/5