The Phoenix Project

The Phoenix Project Book Cover The Phoenix Project
Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford,
Business & Economics
IT Revolution
October 15, 2014
348

I am a certified Scrum Master. I have run Agile Development efforts in a software engineering group. In my past, I have been involved and lead Quality Process implementations – ISO 9001, New York State Governor’s Award, COPC (call center standards), etc. DevOps appeals to me because I am quality process kind of guy. I might have to get myself another certification. đŸ™‚

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Tools of Titans

Tools of Titans Book Cover Tools of Titans
Tim Ferriss
Business & Economics
December 6, 2016
704

I am a fan of Tim Ferriss. I am a regular listener to his podcasts. I have read, annotated, post-it noted, and re-read all of his books. There is SO MUCH in this encyclopedia of self-improvement tips, tactics and strategies. This book covers EVERYTHING. Health, wealth, and wisdom. I like his books in hard cover. Some times the Kindle is not enough. Sometimes, I need that tactile experience.

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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O

Dodo Book Cover Dodo
Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland,
Borough Press
June 1, 2017
768

Such a fun read! The gist (from the book): some manner of cause-and-effect relationship existed between the rise of scientific knowledge and the decline of magic.

It brings together some of my favorite things: Boston, and more specifically, Belmont, MA (where I once attended high school); Constantinople in the 1200's; and more specifically again, the Fourth Crusade.

Born to Run

Born to Run Book Cover Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen
Biography & Autobiography
Simon and Schuster
September 5, 2017
528

I am a huge Springsteen fan. If you just cringed because you do not "like" his music - let me take you to a show sometime. You will get religion. I promise.

It is an excellent book. It is an excellent auto-biography. It is a book about the GRIND. It is a book about confronting the past and doing the work necessary to make it through.

This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll. Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep.

2016 Reading List

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters – Peter Korn – 1/14/2016
Magicians of the Gods – Graham Hancock – 1/22/2016
Alas, Babylon – Pat Frank – 1/23/2016
Dynasty – Tom Holland – 2/23/2016
Loeb Classical Reader – 2/19/2016
A Very Short Introduction to the Roman Empire – Christopher Kelly – 2/29/2016
That Distant Land – Wendell Berry – 4/1/2016
The Roman Empire – Garnsey and Saller – 3/30/2016
The Later Roman Empire – Cameron – 4/25/2016
Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity – Peter Brown – 5/3/2016
How to Write Short – Roy Peter Clark – 4/16/2016
Untangled – Lisa Damour, PhD – 4/30/2016
Zealot – Reza Aslan – 4/20/2016
History of the Church – Eusebius – 4/18/2016
The Secret History – Procopius – 5-9-2016
The Memory of Old Jack – Wendell Berry – 6/5/2016
The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry – Wendell Berry – 6/24/2016
Little House in the Big Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder – 6/28/2016
Ego is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday – 9/1/2016
Nathan Coulter – Wendell Berry – 7/11/2016
A History of the World in 6 Glasses – Tom Standage – 8/29/2016
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami – 11/3/2016
One Year After – William Fortschen – 7-14-2016
A Very Short Introduction to Classics – Mary Beard – 9/26/2016
Letters to a Young Poet – 10/4/2016
The Pegasus and Orne Bridges – Neil Barber – 11/10/2016
Mindless Eating – Brian Wansink – 10/20/2016
Hillbilly Elegy – J.D. Vance – 11/20/2016
Food Freedom Forever – Melissa Hartwick – 12/8/2016
The Master Switch – Tim Wu – 12/19/2016

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy Book Cover Hillbilly Elegy
J. D. Vance
Social Science
HarperCollins
June 28, 2016
272

Vance is a former marine and Yale Law School graduate who gives a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class.

I find myself returning to a famous video clip on Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. He and the band are getting ready to walk off the stage and he squats down, peers out into the audience and asks "ever feel like you've been cheated?"

This book gets at what Rotten was getting at. The decline of white, working-class, Americans - a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over the last forty years. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. It is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

The Pegasus and Orne Bridges

The Pegasus and Orne Bridges Book Cover The Pegasus and Orne Bridges
Neil Barber
History
Pen and Sword
May 31, 2014
324

This book tells the story of the glider-borne operation to capture Pegasus Bridge conducted by Major John Howard and his company of Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and  the seizure of the Orne bridges by British airborne forces and the defense against German counter attacks.prolonged period. The book covers events and operations from Ranville in the East to Benouville in the West and the fighting by 7th, 12th and 13th Parachute Battalions and reinforcements such as the Commandos, seaborne engineers and the Warwicks. Lots of solid, specific details that I am using in a small hobby of mine.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

A History of the World in 6 Glasses Book Cover A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Tom Standage
History
Bloomsbury Publishing USA
May 26, 2009
336

I stole this from my daughter. It was a summer reading assignment for her Sophomore year AP World History class. I loved it! From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history all the defining drink during a pivotal historical period. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization. For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations. You may never look at your favorite drink the same way again.

2015 Reading List

Parcells, A Football Life – Bill Parcells – 1/27/2015
No Hero – Mark Owen – 1-5-2015
The Martian – Andy Weir – 2-3-2015
Seneca: Letters from a Stoic – Seneca – 1-13-2015
Cyrus the Great – Larry Hedrick – 1-22-2015
In the Heart of the Sea – Nathaniel Philbrick – 3-3-2015
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel – 3-23-2015
Alexander – Ambiguity of Greatness – Guy Maclean Rodgers – 5-6-2015
Alexander – Plutarch – 5-7-2015
Fire From Heaven – Quintus Curtius Rufus – 5-11-2015
The Campaigns of Alexander – Arrian – 5-18-2015
A Very Short Introduction: Alexander the Great – Hugh Bowden – 5-21-2015
Resilience – Eric Greitens – 5-20-2015
Alexander and The Logistics of the Macedonian Army – David Engells – 6-12-2015
Tenth of December – George Saunders – 6-19-2015
The Last American Man – Elizabeth Gilbert – 6-30-2015
Our Only World – Wendell Berry – 7-30-2015
Outside the Game – Jim Mandelaro – 7-7-2015
A Place of My Own – Matthew Pollan – 7-31-2015
Tiny Book of Tiny Houses – Lester Walker – 8-5-2015
Rubicon – Tom Holland – 8-29-2015
The Monkey Wrench Gang – Edward Abbey – 9-14-2015
A Very Short Introduction: The Roman Republic – David Gwynn – 9-17-2015
Renewal – J.P. Perkins – 9-8-2015
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo – 10-22-2015
Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic – Harriet Flower – 11-15-2015
Paddle Your Own Canoe – Nick Offerman – 10-22-2015
The Breakdown of the Roman Republic – Christopher Mackay – 11-16-2015
Blue Highways – William Least Heat Moon – 12-17-2015
Ghost Fleet – P.W. Singer – 12-24-2015