In this book, the author selected several highly productive businesses and then studied them to look for similiarities. The result are a very interesting discussion about what makes companies productive. The book concludes that the following 12 steps occur at all companies reviewed: Begin with a simple proposition. Don't let anyone (especially you) muck it up and make it complicated. If it is already complicated, simplify it. Spend your time building a culture not a business model; one based on truth, honesty and respect. Be authentic and live the values. Make certain tha ... more

This is a very hefty book. With over 800 pages it covers a lot of ground on software construction. The author give very detailed coverage to all ways to make your code lucid. He points out that software is read many more times than it is written, so well written clear code can have significant impact on productivity. One of the things I appreciated about the book is the way it uses other research. Instead of degenerating into someone's ranting opinions, the book cites numerous studies and research to support claims and suggested methods. In some places the author states his personal preferences whi ... more

This book discusses practical software engineering in a simple to read, but useful style. It is only a little over 300 pages, so it isn't a long read and it is well illustrated. While nothing in the book was earthshattering, it does a very good job of reviewing the basic principles that apply to software projects. It covers a variety of programming practices from code generation to source code control to unit testing. While they aren't discussed in great depth, each one is given a well rounded overview showing what part it plays in a software project and why it is useful. Most formal educa ... more

This excellent book is organized into two parts. The first part is a story about a startup business. The second part of the book expands on the process illustrated in the story. The book is based on five dysfunctions that hinder teams from working together effectively. The story part of a book details the process that a newly hired CeO goes through to transform her struggling group of executives into an functioning team. Using a story to present the concepts is particularly helpful because the author shows the principles being used in a real life situation. Some people don't like what the CeO is ... more

This book contains many short chapters with advice for starting a business. While you may not agree with everything, it has many thought provoking ideas. The format of the book makes it easy to read when you don't have a large block of time. Here are some of the chapters that I found interesting: It's Okay to Pick fleas off a Dog -- Don't worry if your business isn't flashy. It should be legal, but there is a lot of money to be made in areas where no one else wants to work. Hire a Salesperson First -- You only make money by selling. Sales should ... more

Steve McConnell,the author of this book, owns a software engineering firm called Construx. The book contains his ideas on how software engineering should be handled. McConnell feels that traditional Computer Science degrees ill prepare students for jobs as software engineers. He advocates a course of study for programmers that mirrors the educational path of mechanical engineers. McConnell points out that most areas of engineering did not require a license until the things they made started breaking and killing people. He points to the large number of bridges the collapsed in the early 1900's an ... more

e-myth stands for entrepreneur Myth. The author says that it is a myth that small businesses are started by entrepreneurs. Instead he says they are started by technicians who are bitten by the "entrepreneur bug" for a moment. They start businesses and then work in the business instead of on the business. As a result they often end up with jobs that they dislike even more than their previous positions. This book contains a plan for starting a business by concentrating on making a system that works instead of just creating another job for yourself. It is written as a dialog with a small business pers ... more

This is a short book with many small chapters on how to get noticed and promoted in business. Most of the book focuses on how to produce results and get noticed. The book does a good job of making you think about the things you do and whether or not they contribute to moving you forward. Here are a few of the chapter titles: Always Take the Job That Offers the Most Money Avoid Staff Jobs, Seek Line Jobs Don't expect the Personnel Department to Plan Your Career Get and Keep Customers Keep Physically Fit Do Something Hard and Lonely Nev ... more

I was reading this book on a plane flying into Durango Mexico. A mexican on the plane saw what I was reading and commented that I was reading the "Bible for non-profits". I got to talking to him and it turned out he was a former senator from Mexico who is now in charge of a large non-profit corporation in Chicago. Peter Drucker is a great author. This book grew out of a series of taped interviews he had with leaders in non-profit organizations. The book is organized into 5 parts. "The Mission Comes First: and your role as a leader", "From Mission to Performance: effective strategies for ... more

In 1954 a man named Henry went into surgery that he had been told would help lessen his epileptic seizures. The surgeon removed most of his hipocampus. When Henry awoke they discovered that he no longer had the ability to form new memories. This book tells the story of Henry and delves into the mechanics of how our brains construct and retrieve memories. It is written in a narrative style that makes it easy to read even when discussing the complexities of biology or psychology. ... more

This book is taken from writing found on Douglas Adams computer after his death. There are several bits and pieces of things as well as interviews and speeches he made. One of the most insightful parts of the book was from an interview with American Atheist where he described his "conversion" from Christianity to atheism. every church leader should read this to better understand how their actions impact the people they are trying to reach. ... more

This was the text book for my Unix Programming class at Harvard. It is written by the professor and is a very excellent text book. It teaches Unix programming by looking at various command line tools on Unix systems. First it explains what the tool does, then details what operating system resources the tool utilizes. Finally the book helps guide you in coding a simple version of the tool yourself. I would highly recommend the Harvard Distance education Course that uses this book if you are interested in doing Unix programming. You'll need a good background in C. For me the cl ... more

Mark McCormack runs International Management Group. His company manages celebrities, musicians, and sports figures. This book is filled with short chapters of advice on how to be successful in business. His advice ranges from time management to working effectively with others. The book contains good insights on how to read and work with other people. It is full of examples from IMG of situations that went well and some that didn't. The book gives practical ideas for working better with others and encourages you to pay more attention to working better with those around you. ... more

This book is a great introductions to WebObjects. WebObjects is a web application and persistence framework made by Apple. It is what the Apple Store and iTunes were built with. While WebObject is very powerful, it has a very steep learning curve at the beginning. This book does a good job of covering the foundational parts of the program. It give enough information to get someone familiar with Java started using WebObjects. For a brief overview of what you can do with webobjects check out Jonathan Rentzsh's Web Object's 5 in 15 Minutes . The link is a 10 meg movie t ... more

Richard Feynman was quite a character. early in his career he was part of the Manhattan project where he worked to develop the atomic bomb. You may have seen him explaining why the Challenger blew up using a rubber band and ice water. This book is full of stories of his life. He tells about fixing radios as a kid, faking Italian, learning Portuguese, receiving the nobel prize, becoming a safe cracker, and many many other stories. ... more

In this book Peter Drucker talks about how to position yourself to make the biggest contribution to your organization. The book is written for executives, but it has practical insights for just about anyone. Drucker begins by discussing effectiveness and makes several observations about effective individuals. In chapter two he talks about how we spend our time and concludes that most people don't know how they spend their time. He suggests doing a time inventory to see exactly where your time is going. In the next chapter he discusses how one can contribute to an organization and talks about differ ... more

This is a short book written about Jack Welch that attempts to condense his leadership traits in 29 points. While Welch's autobiography offers a much deeper look into his theories on leadership, this book is a good quick read as a refresher or introduction to his ideas. ... more

This book talks about how to work with technical people and more specifically how to manage and lead them. If you consider yourself a "geek", much of this book will seem obvious, but it still has some good ideas on managing people. If you don't consider yourself a "geek" this book would be very worthwhile. ... more

I listened to this book on tape a few years ago, but when my parents gave me the paper version I decided to read it again. I still think this is Maxwell's finest writing. He does a great job of using stories to illustrate the different leadership laws of leadership. Many of the stories are about sports figures which personally I don't relate to very well, but it is still a very good book. This is a book I plan to reread or at least review every few years. ... more

This book is fairly new age in many of its ideas, but it does make some interesting observations about DaVinci's approach to life and how he solved problems. If this is the only book you read, I wouldn't suggest that this be it, but if you are studying creativity it has some good thoughts...and some odd ones as well. ... more

11 1/2 Weird Ideas that Work is a good book to read along with The Art of Innovation. The ideas are things that will foster innovation and creativity at your organization. The author presents his counter intuitive ideas and then explains the rational for each of them. He uses examples to show how they work. One idea was to higher people who make you uncomfortable because it will increase the diversity and viewpoints in your company. Another idea is to use job interviews to get new ideas and find novel solutions to problems. If you are looking to spark innovation this book has some good ideas, ... more

This book was written by an artist and a specialist in organizational learning. It compares aboriginal culture with the culture needed to excel in today's technological world. While some of the comparisons seem a little contrived, the book does spark interesting thoughts regarding the best way to use technology to our advantage and how it is shaping our culture. ... more

This book expands on one of the points from the 21 Laws of Leadership. It has solid concepts for developing influence with the people around you. I would recommend reading the 21 Laws of Leadership before reading this book because it will put it into better context than reading the book on its own. ... more

This book introduces the reader to the concepts of marketing. It has theoretical sections talking about how to appeal to customers as well as practical sections discussing how billboards are rented. I found it to be useful in understanding the industry and getting an idea of how to measure the effectiveness of different forms of advertising. ... more

This is a book on advertising. The author uses the Mr. Whipple ads as an example of a horrible ad campaign that beats people to death with a stupid idea. (He does concede that it sold a lot of toilet paper.) The examples of the book show how to advertise in a way that engages your audience and doesn't insult their intelligence. It uses examples of Volkswagen and other companies to show what the author considers to be good advertising. The book also talks about the process of coming up with advertising ideas. The author describes coming to work, staring at a piece of paper, talking to his ... more

Disney is a huge company that has been very successful even after Walt died. This book shows some of the methods used by Disney to keep everyone aligned with the vision and to encourage everyone to go the extra mile at their job. There is a companion workbook that provides exercises and team building activities. I've used a few of them with groups and they are effective at helping to develop team work. If you are looking for team exercises you might want to look at getting the workbook that goes along with The Disney Way. ... more

This is a book I intend to reread every few years. It has many insights that are obvious once you hear them, but that we rarely practice. The key point of the book is to show you how to take a genuine interest in people. ... more

A very detailed book about the possibilities of wireless technology. The subject matter isn't too technical, but the author does an excellent job of explaining how the technology works and show how it is being used. For people in charge of finding technology to solve problems, this book is a great way to familiarize yourself with the range of what is available today. It also provides some good guesses as to what will be available in the near future ... more

Creative Company-- St Luke's is an advertising agency in London. When their parent company was bought out they decided to use a unique type of corporation where the company is owned by the employees. Their structure is very open where everyone knows how much everyone else makes and raises are based partially on how much employees feel their work is worth. This book describes how they maintain a creative environment in the work place. They have some interesting ideas. For example, no one has an assigned office, desk, or computer. everyone uses wireless phones and has storage space for thei ... more

This book describes the traits of wealthy people based on statistical evidence. The book concludes that many of these common traits are what has helped millionaires acquire their wealth. For example the author shows that most millionaires never build their own home because most of them will wait until the market is down to buy homes that are being sold at below their value in established neighborhoods. Many of the findings run counter to the stereotype of millionaires. The author found that most millionaires never spent more that $1,000 on an engagement ring, never spent more than $18 on a hair cut ... more

Written by a neurologist, this book explains in plain terms how the brain functions and gives tips on how to perform at your peak mental ability. The author talks about how different activities trigger different parts of the brain. In one section he compares the active portions of the brain when writing with a computer to the active portions when writing with a pen or typewriter and notes that they are significantly different. The method of writing determines what portion of the brain is being used. The brain is similar to a muscle in the fact that it has to be kept in shape and this bo ... more

Written in 1880 this book combines government, philosophy and mathematics in an intriguing story. The story is set in a 2 dimensional universe known as Flatland. The narrator describes the caste system of each different shape and how their world functions. The main character is visited by a 3 dimensional spherical being which doesn't exhibit the properties of the world around him. After attacking the sphere he eventually comes to believe in a third dimension. This book shows how difficult it is to convey ideas to people who have no context in which to understand those ideas. It is a fascinating st ... more

The Innovators Dilemma looks at how upstart technologies eventually displace existing technology in the market. This is a very interesting book, but it is very statistical in nature. The insights from this book are useful to people responsible for making decisions regarding technology as well as investors trying to spot the next wave of products in a market. ... more

Dell has a very interesting story. Michael Dell tells how the company was started and gives many examples of what they did right along with what they did wrong. It helps give a clear picture of what is involved in managing a large businesses supply chain along with the difficulties of global business. ... more

If you want to get some experience with After effects this book will walk you through most of its features. I finished this book in one week, but it is fairly time intensive. In the book you create a project adding parts using what you've learned from each chapter. This approach works well because it gives you experience with creating a complete project from start to finish. I also found the book useful as a reference. If I remember using a particular feature I can usually find it quickly in the book when I need it. ... more

This book tells how to create effective visual stories for making documentary films. While most of the examples in the book are length documentaries, it still has a lot of good information for someone wanting to product 3 to 7 minute videos for their own organization. ... more

This book covers a wide range of religions from monks to wicca groups showing how they are making use of the internet to promote and practice what they believe. This isn't a Christian book, it is just a survey of the how the internet is being used for various religions. For someone involved in the internet strategy of a church, this provide insight into the types of religious experiences people are finding on the web. ... more

This is a good overall guide to working with digital video. While it covers equipment, the real focus is on how to bring everything together to make a movie. Most of the concepts are relevant to making short commercials as well. ... more

eMinistry gives a view into ways to reach the net generation. It is an encouragement for the church to stay current with the times. People are searching for God and they are using technology and the internet as a means. There are various suggestions on how to reach people through the internet. ... more

This book is written by the management editor of economist magazine. It is valuable because it gives a glimpse into some of the ways that technology will be capable of changing the way we do business in the near future. The author shows how information and the technology to process that information have become central to an organization's success and how this is going to create a shift in methods used to do business. ... more

This book examines how the data being collected by businesses and the government can result in a society where nothing is secret. The author points to many examples of how data is used in ways that most people don't realize. It also talks about how people are willing to give up their privacy in exchange for convenience. Some of the most interesting parts dealt with face recognition systems used to keep tabs on known criminals. ... more

This book gives the history of the SUN Microsystems. The company went through a very fast growth phase in the early 90's and it is interesting to read about how they handled the growth. There are a lot of practical lessons from their successes and their failures. The book discusses technology, but its main focus is on the business and organizational aspects of Sun. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about starting a business or trying to manage an organization going through rapid growth. ... more

This book examines how and why we sleep. I would highly recommend this book to anyone because it is an issue that impacts everyone. The author talks about how much sleep we need and how to balance your sleeping schedule with your awake hours so you can fall asleep quickly, but wake refreshed. ... more

Jack Welch was the CeO of Ge for many years. I know there are people who don't agree with his management style, but he definitely had the ability to lead and motivate people. One of points I most remember from this book was his method for consistently raising the average capability of his pool of employees. Basically he suggests grading on the curve. The top 20% of his workers are highly rewarded and trained for advancements. The middle 60% are encouraged to increase their productivity to the ranks of the top 20%. The bottom 20% are told that their performance is lower than what is desired and ... more

In this book, Michael Lewis uses real life stories to illustrate how the internet is allowing for changes in our society. Many of his stories are about kids. He talks about a teenager who uses the internet to manipulate the stock market to make hundreds of thousands of dollars and eventually is caught by the SeC. In another example a teen is sought after for legal advice even after a real lawyer tries to discredit him because of his age. The book is entertaining to read because of the stories, but it contains insights into how technology is currently being used and how it is likely to be used in ... more

The story of Steve Job's founding of Apple, his ousting and later return, make a very interesting story. While this book isn't about technology, I helps explain many of Apple's actions in the marketplace. ... more

The Art of Innovation is a great book about how to manage creativity. It shows how IDeO turns brainstorming sessions into creative products. IDeO designed the Palm V, the original Apple mouse, Amtrak's rail cars and many other products. The book talks about their method for managing creative people and creating a fun and highly productive environment. Prototyping is described as a way to test ideas quickly before too much has been invested in a design. Some people find this book to be a little long and repetitive, but I thought it was an excellent read with some great ideas on managing the creat ... more

This book is a little hard to follow because it has some of the coding examples have errors in them. However I found it to be a good introduction to JSPs and it was very useful to me. If you are new to java and programming, it might be a little difficult and fast paced, but for a quick run though of JSP technology it was useful. I did like the way it was organized in short lessons that build on each other. Books like this can get outdated very quickly, so there may be some better books on the market. ... more

This collection of essays was created by looking at the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. It looks at where we are technology wise compared with where things were expected to be by the year 2001. It covers many fields from speech recognition to computerized chess and also examines some of the ethical implications of creating intelligent systems. If you enjoyed the movie by Clarke, this is a great read. If you didn't enjoy the movie (and most of my friends didn't) it is still an interesting look at the current state of technology. ... more