Reading Next: Working Effectively with Legacy Code

Last year I read 63 books and started posting notes online, which helps me consolidate my thinking: https://www.briansnotes.io

At any given time, I have about 3 books going - one technical, one fun, and one management/leadership.

Finished Range and Siddhartha, and now reading Seneca's letters from a stoic.

Range is a great book that extols the virtues of playing around and dabbling with multiple skills. Immensely readable.

Siddhartha, is a fascinating take on advaita vedanta, Sramana, and Buddhism. As someone familiar with these 3 philosophies, I liked Hesse's take on them. The story is really simple and can be finished in 2-3 sittings.

Letters from a stoic is full to the brim of wisdom and I've never filled a book with so many bookmarks and notes before. Seneca writes like a straight arrow and doesn't mince words. No wonder the book is still around, one of the best examples of Lindy effect.

At any given time I have somewhere around 50 books "in flight" in the sense that I've read at least a few pages and put it in "currently reading" status on Goodreads. But there's usually one (or two) that are getting the bulk of my attention. Right now the main book I'm focusing on is Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Norvig and Russell. I'd had this on my shelf for years and never got serious about working my way through the entire thing until recently. And I have to say, I now really regret not starting this project sooner. There's so much great stuff in this book.

I'm not just "reading" it like a novel though. I "just read" up to a certain point (basically the end of the section on inference using FOL) and now I'm going back to a certain point (the beginning of the section on logic based agents) and going back through and doing exercises, implementing the algorithms myself, etc. Once I've satisfied myself that I have done all I need to do with this area, I'll pick back up with the section that starts talking about Uncertainty and repeat the process.

And I'll keep picking through a couple of these other 49 books in random moments of idle time here and there. I'll probably finish Behind The Cloud by Marc Benioff soon.

Reading frequency? Not sure what you mean. I read everyday with few exceptions, but since books vary in length and density, I can't say "I read two books a week" or anything like that. But FWIW, I log my reading with Goodreads, and over the last 10 years or so of my life, I've averaged finishing somewhere between 35-50 or so books per year.

I'm aiming to read Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. I'm always being told I should read it, but the title has always put me off.

I used to read a lot, but over the past few years I've read less and less. 2020 was definitely not a good year for deep reading.

I got a few nice sci-fi books for Christmas, including Exhalation by Ted Chiang and Peace by Gene Wolf.

I also want to read Godel, Escher Bach, it's been recommended to me a lot.

Definitely some interesting picks on this thread.

Any of those standing on my bookshelf I want to read next, especially the "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs".

What about my reading frequency, nowadays I read more of whitepapers and less of books, because whitepapers are way harder to read than books. Every day I read at least half of A4 page of whitepapers or at least 10 of A4 page of books or blogposts. It is just a hobby for me, not kind of job.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson is next up on my list. Really enjoying Mistborn so far. Still working my way through the second book.

I've also read a lot of his other work as well as the Wheel of Time. If anyone has recommendations for other fantasy novels/epics, I'm all ears!

I try to alternate fiction and non-fiction when I can. Having recently finished Capital Vol 1, I've started Q by Luther Blissett this week. Q seems to be well regarded, but I'm going in blind. After Q I'll likely go back to Capital Vol 2 which I understand to be on the drier side.

During iso I've set aside Wednesday nights as reading nights. The schedule gives me something to look forward too, but it doesn't preclude reading during the weekends if I'm feeling into it.

I learned to program through Python and Scheme. Yet I still feel like I know jackshyt about programming. I want to realearn it from a mathematician's point of view. So, Programming for Mathematicians by Seroul [0] is in my to-read queue.

[0] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Programming_for_Mathema...

I am currently reading "Novice Dragoneer" by E. E. Knight and I'm almost finished with it. Next up is the sequel to it, Daughter of the Serpentine.

Fantasy isn't my go to genre but I've been wanting to read something in the fantasy realm because I am just tired of the lawyer/whodunnit stuff.

I am hoping my 12 year old daughter reads it as the heroine is a 14 y/o girl who has to overcome many obstacles and meets them head on.

→ Sam Keen - Your Mythic Journey - Finding Meaning in Your Life Through Writing and Storytelling

→→ Idries Shah - Learning how to learn - psychology and spirituality in the Sufi way

→→→ Marc Lewis - The Biology of Desire - Why Addiction Is Not a Disease

And always fiction mixed with non-fiction, recently Tess Gerritsen, currently Zygmunt Miłoszewski (his books are in Polish only, I believe).

Regarding frequency, it depends, only 26 in 2020, 40 in 2019.

"Post Wall Post Square" by Kristina Spohr appears to be a fascinating verbal illustration of everything that happened in the years surrounding the downfall of the Soviet Union, from the perspective of each world leader.

My usual reading list consists of tech books, but I figured I'd change it up a little to have a bit of an escape.

At the top of my list is "The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient." I find it an easy guide for developing resilience, which is necessary to go through the world's crisis.

I'm still in progress on Brandon Sanderson's Rhythm of War, the fourth book in the Stormlight Archives series. I've been reading a lot of business and indie hacker related non-fiction, so it has been nice to read something a little lighter.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I thought it would be a good time investment to read this book than to watch random Youtube videos about topics related to the cosmos.

Another, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Probably the podcast or the free PDF versions.

>> Principles by Ray Dalio

>> The Expanse (novel series) - I was introduced to it several years ago and have been meaning to get to it for awhile. I heard it now has a TV series and the next book in the series is supposed to come out this.

I'm currently reading the Product Management’s Sacred Seven based on a friend's recommendation that it was good for product management interview prep.

This book looked extremely think and daunting when it arrived.

The Sense of Structure by George Gopen.

Too little for my taste. I seem to have lost my ability to dive in and just read it without looking at the phone or HN, like it was with Harry Potter and all those books of my youth.

I have a bit of a queue going; I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle based on suggestions from here, and it was definitely worth the investment. Next on my list is Graham Greene's The Comedians.

Current: Crack in the Creation by Jennifer Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg

Next: A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman

gonna start reading the wheel of time today. heard many positive things about it and I just needed something that's not about technology to get my mind off work.

I kinda stopped reading as much as I used to since I got my first smartphone two years ago, but I am trying to change that

I love mystery books (dad books) and am going to go through the whole Sandman Slim series.

The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield

Completed this year:

Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Providence: God's Loving Care for Men and the Need for Confidence in Almighty God by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming by Dusty Phillips

Currently reading:

Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman

The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous

Financial Shenanigans by Howard M. Schilit

Up next:

Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman

These Truths by Jill Lepore

Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms by Shalev Shwartz and Ben David