Reading List 2023
Setting the stage for a productive, Rusting, year
I’m aiming at nearly a book a week here. (You can scroll past all these paragraphs if you just want to get to the list.)
It’s not all Rust related but it is the single heaviest topic in the list. And the Rust tomes included aren’t lightweights. The last one in the Rust section isn’t fully written yet and estimated for Spring 2023. With these books I think I’m covering a lot of solid Rusty ground and by finishing them and their projects I’ll be in a much stronger position all things Rust related going into 2024.
Take a walk through the rest of the list and let me know what you think. Something I should add that’s Rust related?
Let’s briefly touch on each of the other sections.
For the Other Tech section I’ve included a few critical pieces like The Managers Path and Designing Data Intensive Applications which I’ve seen appear and reappear in the Twitterverse and Blogosphere. They’re referenced so often I figured I should do my part and just read them.
I’ve developed a strong taste for sci-fi of the Hyperion variety and heard that something like A Canticle for Leibowitz and the original Starship Troopers could satisfy that craving. This year I finished Elantris by Brian Sanderson and loved it so am looking forward to The Way of Kings. The others on the list are all space-related (I think) and most are parts of ongoing series so let’s see how they fare.
The nonfiction section is stacked with more recent works, many of which sound interesting. The three that are most mysterious to me here and which I’ll probably dive first into are Atlas of the Heart, The Equality Machine, and Life is Hard. Great titles. And they’ve all been praised in magazines I trust, like The Economist, so am optimistically intrigued. Other works in this section are ones I’ve encountered passively or that have been recommended or who are written by authors I greatly admire. Slouching Towards Utopia by Brad DeLong is definitely in that last camp and it should be especially thought provoking.
On the other hand we have the fiction and literature section which is just a mess. The works there span different eras and times like Gone With the Wind and The Name of the Rose, and Lonesome Dove and 2666. For these books I have a general idea of the plot and the rhythm to expect. For books like Wool and Upgrade I have no idea and expect I’ll be in for a ride.
I created the Horror and/or Mystery section just corral Hidden Pictures and a last minute addition of Still Life. I have no idea what to expect from either of these, just that the former is horror related and the latter a mystery. So let’s see!
For History I’m continuing on with reading a biography about each of the presidents—there’s two in this list And There was Light being a recent work on Lincoln and Truman, which is a *giant* tome about the haberdasher president. Looking forward to both of those. Beyond that we’re leaning more into Roman history with SPQR and I, Claudius. Finally since we are tech focused here we might as well read some history on it: Where Wizards Stay Up Late claims to run down the history of the internet. I’m excited for it.
Being Motivational is difficult and I appreciate those who try. David Goggins is one person who makes it look easy so his newest book Never Finished had to go on the list. Then I’ve had The War of Art on my shelf for so long I figured I might as well just formally read it. I’ve heard mixed reviews on this one but, damn, I do love the title.
Then, finally, besides Rust I’m embracing studying game design as a more serious hobby. To this end Designing Games by the creator of Rimworld, i.e. Tynan Sylvester, and Procedural Storytelling in Game Design by the folks who made Dwarf Fortress are definitely first up. The others on the list will be helpful, no doubt, but may run into being more biographical than instructive.
This list gets us to 51, not exactly a book a week. While writing this list I thought I’d come in short and leave room for some serendipity throughout the year. Maybe I’ll see a graphic novel lying on a street corner and pick it up or hear about a wild book of poetry from a rising star. So I’ll leave the 52nd book up for grabs. BUT if I had to pick something I think I’d be torn between Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry (poetry) or a selection of Tintin comics by Herge. What would be your last edition to this list?
Anyway, without further ado…
Rust (4)
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Rust in Action - Tim McNamara
Command Line Rust - Ken Youens-Clark
Programming Rust - Jim Blandy
Rust Servers, Services, and Apps - Prabhu Eshwarla
Other Tech (5)
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The Managers Path - Camille Fournier
Systems Performance - Brenden Gregg
Designing Data Intensive Applications - Martin Kleppmann
Staff Engineer - Will Larson
Kanban: Successfu Evolutionary Change For Your Technology Business - David J. Anderson
Scifi/Fantasy (10)
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Babel - R. F. Kuang
The Way of Kings - Brian Sanderson
Columbus Day - Craig Alanson
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller
The Algebraist - Ian Banks
The Rook - Daniel O'Malley
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel
The Dreaming Void - Peter Hamilton
Blindsight - Peter Watts
Nonfiction (10)
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Slouching Towards Utopia - Brad DeLong
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
A World Lit Only by Fire - William Manchester
Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown
Starry Messenger - Neil deGrasse Tyson
Life is Hard - Kieran Setiya
Song of the Cell - Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Equality Machine - Orly Lobel
Metabolical - Robert Lustig
Blue Highways: A Journey into America - William Least Heat Moon
Fiction/Literature (9)
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Wool - Hugh Howey
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
The Sun Also Rises - Earnest Hemingway
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Echo
2666 - Roberto Bolano
The Books of Jacob - Olga Tokarczuk
Upgrade - Blake Crouch
Oedipus Rex - Sophocles
Horror and/or Mystery (2)
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Hidden Pictures - Jason Rekulak
Still Life - Louise Penny
History (5)
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I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Where the Wizards Stay up Late - Katie Hafner
And There Was Light - Jon Meacham
Truman - David McCullough
SPQR - Mary Beard
Motivational (2)
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Never Finished - Dave Goggins
The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
Game Design (4)
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Designing Games - Tynian Slyvester
Masters of Doom - David Kushner
Procedural Storytelling in Game Design - Tarn Adams
Sid Meier's Memoir! - Sid Meier