I assume that my lack of knowledge about Professor Feynman is the reason I didn't really like this book. Frankly, I hate to admi3/5 stars, definitely.
I assume that my lack of knowledge about Professor Feynman is the reason I didn't really like this book. Frankly, I hate to admit it but I never heard about him up until I started reading this book.
To be honest, at least 40% of the time I wasn't actually sure whether I'm reading an autobiography of a Nobel prize winner or a book written by a pickup artist (and I read handful of those). I mean, every now and then he brags about his skills with women, culminating with the fact how he learned that the way to act with hot girls is to be a dick ... And not Dick, as in Dick Feynman, but dick as in prick ... I mean, WTF, ...
Aside from that, the book just goes on and on bragging about everything he did. I won't lie - he definitely did a lot of cool things, but I mean, 10 pages about how he's playing drums? Or dancing samba, or whatever? I would assume that this would be interesting to a hardcore fan of this guy but I just found it utterly boring and I skimmed through those pages.
Now, I would have given 1 star to this book but the reason why I gave it three stars is because I actually did like the message that it's trying to send, which is - don't take life too seriously. If you ignore all his, not sure if it's bragging or just writing for sake of writing those pages about how he picked locks, went to strip clubs, etc. If you just ignore those (and feel free to skim through them), you can actually see a really nice life philosophy of a super-intelligent guy, mixed with an unlimited amount of intellectual curiosity. This is what I LOVED about this book.
On top of that, this book actually helped me realize that me being quirky is actually not a bad trait and frankly it helped me feel better about myself.
So, the outmost message, if we exclude tons of bullshit details, is -- be curious, don't take anything for granted and just - play as much as possible! ...more
Well I'll be honest. This book was recommended to me on a number of occasions by a person that, so far, recommended me a number of books that I loved.Well I'll be honest. This book was recommended to me on a number of occasions by a person that, so far, recommended me a number of books that I loved.
However, I kept ignoring this one because, even though I read the "4-hour workweek" some years ago and even though I did like it at the time, I kind of developed some hatred towards the "self-help" books and stuff like that. Because, you know, guys writing those kinds of books should be doing something useful for the world instead of writing crappy books about how to live better life; this, I presumed, holds true for Tim Ferriss as well.
I don't even recall why I actually picked this book in the first place. I guess I assumed - well, it can't be THAT bad. And I needed something relaxing to ponder on ...
Damn, was I wrong! And am I happy that I was!
First of all, I always assumed that Tim Ferriss was just a guy who was writing "motivational" books without doing anything else in his life. Which further led me to a conclusion of - why would you read a book about LIFE and BUSINESS and other stuff from someone whose only business is writing motivational books? Right?
Wrong! I should have done my due diligence. This guy seems to have like 10 running businesses, bunch of investments and like 5 books at this point ...
Second thing, and this is the best one -- before I started reading this, I used to tell everyone that I have to start writing my Master thesis, have to get back to meditating (I used to do it before), yadda, yadda, yadda. I was saying all those things for MONTHS, literally.
And as the luck would have it, before I even realized what's happening, the following did:
1. I started going to bad before 11PM (I used to go between 12AM and 1AM) 2. I started waking up at 7AM sharp (this used to be 8 - 8:30 AM) 3. I developed a morning routine - make up bed, meditate, shower 4. I started writing my thesis EVERY MORNING from 8AM to 9AM sharp (I leave for work after that). I didn't even know what I wanted to write but I just knew that at 8AM I have to start writing WHATEVER 5. I started exercising 5 times a week (before, I was doing 2 days a week)
Frankly, at this point, I'm almost done with my thesis (took 20 days, straight), I developed a habit of exercising at least 4 times a week and I actually developed kind of inner goal of tackling the hardest things first and then thinking about consequences later on ...
I also got myself pretty exhausted couple of times during this process, but, honestly, what I achieved due to a discipline of doing only one hour of writing or learning per day - simply amazes me.
Now, was all of this due to a book? Well, probably yes and no. The thing is that I already had all of this planned. I was just too lazy to start doing it.
However, once I learned about the real struggles of all the people Tim interviewed (so called - "Titans"), it actually helped me push the boundary between procrastinating and actually starting to deal with your own sh*t; and I'm grateful that it did.
All in all, I expected to trash this book after a couple of pages and I ended up reading it even when I went to exercise.
Initially I gave 3 stars to this book. Why? Well, honestly, because I found it just way too long and not that interesting. But yet, I made sure to reaInitially I gave 3 stars to this book. Why? Well, honestly, because I found it just way too long and not that interesting. But yet, I made sure to read it cover to cover ... So I started wondering ...
Well, for one, I think the idea of the book itself made sure that I read it cover to cover. Basically, the idea of "never give up", which I extrapolated from "I don't quit when I'm tired, I quit when I'm done", is what probably made me go cover to cover. And I'm happy that I did, because I think there was a positive influence here.
Now a little backstory - first of all, I'm a huuuge fan of David Goggins. I can actually directly relate my willingness to start running after my workouts as a consequence of watching almost all podcasts where Goggins was a guest (primarily Joe Rogan). Hell, I didn't even realize, but I started running at least 3 times a week on top of my "6 times a week" workout regimen. Basically I'd just play the podcast and start running. I can go on with it on repeat for hours as it just motivates the hell out of me.
As a consequence of that, I just learned mostly everything about David Goggins. As such, I knew most of the stuff about his life, so this book didn't bring any new info and, as such, I just found it ultra long. So I gave it 3 stars initially.
But, couple days after, I just realized I'm way more into workouts, running, discipline, etc. I attribute this directly to the ideas shared throughout this book and, hence, I increased it to 4 stars.
Why not 5 stars? Because I reserve my 5-star ratings to books that had deep effect on me AND were written perfectly. This book was just raw & long, just like Mr Goggins is, and, as such, I'll keep it at 4 stars.
Definitely a recommended read, nonetheless!...more
I guess that I'll be just one of the many who said - "Parts Unlimited is actually the same organization I'm working in!". But I'll claim it nonethelesI guess that I'll be just one of the many who said - "Parts Unlimited is actually the same organization I'm working in!". But I'll claim it nonetheless!
Long story made short -- this was definitely an eye-opener book for me. Kind of allowed me to realize that, at the end, every person in organization assumes that their work is most important and that all others are just retarded muppets who can't get their own crap together. What brings a smile back to my face is that, even though the road seems to be paved with all kinds of obstacles, there actually could be the light at the end of the tunnel, assuming that you are willing to throw yourself into the fire.
All in all, amazingly written book and, even as a "just developer", I can highly recommend it!...more
Aside from being quick & fun read, some of the important ideas that I got from this book:
1. Conflicts are GOOD thing -- I always felt like DISCUSSION Aside from being quick & fun read, some of the important ideas that I got from this book:
1. Conflicts are GOOD thing -- I always felt like DISCUSSION is the way to go, but I always tried avoiding conflicts. After reading this book, I actually understand where this comes from - I was avoiding conflicts with people I couldn't deal easily with ... but constructive Conflicts actually DO seem to be a good idea because they should be focused on the GOAL and not on the personal emotions.
2. You DONT NEED consensus --> well this one hit me pretty hard. I assumed that ALL team members have to agree on the thing before proceeding to do it. What this book argues is that you dont need consensus, but you need everyone to be on the same page. They dont have to necessarily agree, but they have to be willing to follow the path toward the share goal.
3. Importance of LETTING PEOPLE GO --> I got these from Phoenix project and Extreme Ownership as well, so this book just strengthened the idea in my mind. Trying to get people on the same level is important, but if they refuse to change - you have to let them go, no matter how "good" they are.
4. Importance of TEAM over "I" --> this is something I never thought about, but makes real sense. It's really important to distinguish the "what I want" from "what TEAM wants".
5. Teammates have to hold other mates accountable --> so this is a strong one. You, as a part of the team, have responsibility to hold other teammates accountable if they are failing to reach the goal. Quite a strong idea and I'm still contemplating it.
tl;dr I enjoyed this book far less than I anticipated and universe less than Extreme Ownership. Almost gave it 2/5 but out of respect for Jocko, who Itl;dr I enjoyed this book far less than I anticipated and universe less than Extreme Ownership. Almost gave it 2/5 but out of respect for Jocko, who I enjoy listening to, I went for 3/5.
Here's the backstory -- as pretty much anybody who read Extreme Ownership, I couldn't wait to start reading this one. I was actually planning it as a special occasion and I was waiting for the right time to start myself immersing into it. I set the expectations too high, I guess.
As many others have said - this book doesn't bring anything new and it just references Extreme Ownership in pretty much every chapter. I fully understand that this is an expansion on the concepts from the previous book, but still - I didn't find it interesting.
Second of, I just found the introductory war stories AND the applications to business to be rather uninspiring and quite boring, in all honesty. Plus all the applications to business sounded too plastic to me.
Again, as many have said, if you want to get the meat of this book -- you can really skip the intro stories and jump right to "principles" of each section. Those are the only ones having the real value. The rest of the stories were just way too long and unnecessary.
Here's a funny thing - before I started reading this book I knew NOTHING about Walt Disney. Like, literally, NOTHING. Never even had the interest in tHere's a funny thing - before I started reading this book I knew NOTHING about Walt Disney. Like, literally, NOTHING. Never even had the interest in the guy. And yet, I ended up reading this book because, before this one, I read "Creativity, Inc" by Ed Catmull and then "Ride of a Lifetime" by Bob Iger (CEO of Disney). Since both books referred to Walt Disney as a rather interesting character, I decided to give a shot to this one as well.
Sufficient to say that book was amusing. I really liked it. But that's not why I gave it 5 stars. The reason I did so is that, strangely enough, as I was reading it, I noticed myself changing my attitude towards the work, creativity, productivity, etc. For whatever reason, I just felt inspired, energised and way more creative than usual. And hell, I'm a programmer :)
So, whatever the secret of this book or Walt Disney is - it sure as hell will give you a boost! So go read it and enjoy the ride!...more
This was my second re-read. And I enjoyed it two times more than the first time. And I'm actually sure I'll enjoy THREE times more next time.
It's realThis was my second re-read. And I enjoyed it two times more than the first time. And I'm actually sure I'll enjoy THREE times more next time.
It's really funny but even though I read this book a while ago, I liked Steve regardless. But now that I read it again, I really believe he was a sociopathic jerk. But ...
In all honesty, autobiographies like this one actually provide me with some strange sense of energy and creativity so that, while I'm reading them, I have a tendency of starting new stuff or becoming way more passionate about whatever it was that I was doing. This time I decided to curate a perfect user experience for visitors of my blog, and I attribute this directly to this book.
Was it a long read? Absolutely ... Did I enjoy with every single page? Oh hell yes I did! Will I read it again? Without thinking twice - absolutely. Would I suggest it to anyone? Oh yes! You MUST read it. ...more
In a way, I was already familiar with all the concepts mentioned here, mostly because I've been investing years now trying to fDefinitely a good book.
In a way, I was already familiar with all the concepts mentioned here, mostly because I've been investing years now trying to figure out HOW to build and stick to habits. I even wrote couple of blog articles on the subject.
Regardless, this book is definitely great. The only reason I give 4/5 is because, as I said, I was already familiar with most of the things mentioned here.
I think you should also consider keeping your own copy of the book (I borrowed mine from the friend) and it's definitely worth re-reading parts of it once in a while.
Overall, a great read and definitely a recommended one!...more
I believe this is the first-ever professional book, especially of this size, that took me less than a month to read it. Literally, every single chapteI believe this is the first-ever professional book, especially of this size, that took me less than a month to read it. Literally, every single chapter was so interesting and entertaining so that you just have to keep reading.
Aside from being THE BEST professional literature I ever read, it actually taught me a bunch of things and, as a consequence, it made me so skeptic about everything network related (is there actually a single thing in network that you can RELY on?).
All in all, an amazing book and definitely highly recommended. What's more, I'm sure that this was just first out of many reads of this book that I'm planning to do....more
Honestly - just an awesome book which pretty much proved it's worth.
Indeed it's noticeable that he's talking a bit more about manufacturing plant, butHonestly - just an awesome book which pretty much proved it's worth.
Indeed it's noticeable that he's talking a bit more about manufacturing plant, but, frankly, 99% of what is said is, at least in my opinion, applicable to ANY niche (including software engineering).
Hence, I can highly recommend this book to anyone either looking to get into the management (like myself), but I'm sure that even seasoned veterans would benefit as well....more
So I can totally see where the negative reviews for this book come from; and I'll elaborate on that.
For the people who read - Living with a SEAL --> wSo I can totally see where the negative reviews for this book come from; and I'll elaborate on that.
For the people who read - Living with a SEAL --> well, this one was definitely less funny (or witty?). I guess these folks give it 3-4 stars.
For the people who have no idea who Jesse Itzler is and who expect some tough stuff on buddhist monk life - I can see where the disappointment comes from - this is absolutely NOT that kind of book.
Finally, for the people who haven't read Living with a SEAL before -- read that one first, it's way more entertaining!
Now, on to this book - well, I was thinking whether to give 3 or 4 stars. I decided to go with four because I still find Jesse's style of writing pretty interesting and engaging and, as I commented on his previous book - I can literally read his writings forever. It's just such a simple language and even without any cliffhangers it just forces you to keep reading because you FEEL his words.
So, definitely less engaging than his previous book, but if you enjoyed that one, you surely should give this one a shot ;) ...more
Do I start with the fact that this is, by far, the longest book I've ever read? I don't think I ever went beyond 200 pages.
OrWell where do I start ...
Do I start with the fact that this is, by far, the longest book I've ever read? I don't think I ever went beyond 200 pages.
Or do I start with the fact that I loved the introductory part, then felt bored to my bones through most of the second half of the book, and then loved the last 150 pages or so?
Or yet, what if I start by saying that, even though everything above is true, I literally read this the whole day every day (having been quarantined did help though).
Well, all in all, one thing is for sure -- I found this book to be amazing. I really think I never really understood what "character development" means. As in, what's meant by it. Well, this book provided an example I guess. I literally felt like I was living there with Jack (George) and Saddie. Every crap they went through, I actually felt it.
Now, I'm not really fiction and I haven't read a whole lot of it. Which means I'm probably not the one to recommend this book as a great piece of literature. But yet, if you ask me - spend no time and give this baby a shot! But make sure you have enough time to immerse yourself into the story. It's well worth it!...more
I think this is a first time ever that I'm rating a book before having it finished (I'm at 50% of it). The reason is that this book is threatening to I think this is a first time ever that I'm rating a book before having it finished (I'm at 50% of it). The reason is that this book is threatening to become one of my favorite books. Let me tell you why ...
First of, I think that if you want to "get the most out of it", in terms of enjoying it to the fullest, you probably should get yourself familiar with who Jesse Itzler and David Goggins (the SEAL) are. Let me share some details on that:
1. In my case, I stumbled upon Joe Rogan's podcast with Jesse by pure accident (just search for "jre 1127 jesse itzler" on youtube) and fell in love with the guy due to his wickedness and "it sounds crazy - let's do it" attitude. This is also where I heard about his book.
2. Then I did a bit of research on David Goggings and I watched Joe Rogan's podcast with him as well (search for "jre 1080" and "jre 1212" on youtube). Now, I won't go into details on why I was impressed by this guy as well but just watching/listening to this podcast should be worth enough, even if you skip this book.
I highly recommend watching both of these BEFORE reading the book, as I think it will provide you a massive head start and tremendous enjoyment for when you start reading the book.
Let me talk about the book itself now. So what fascinates me here is that we have two COMPLETELY OPPOSITE types of personality. On one hand, we have Jesse. This is a guy who, well, not to underestimate his achievements, but in comparison to Goggins - he just had it easy. In his own words, he grew up in a nice neighborhood, nicely functional family, house with garden, ... Generally, a nice solid head start. Then most of his achievements were, again not to underestimate any of his efforts, but broadly speaking - he had good luck on him. Like, he appeared on MTV by pretending to be someone else (initially), found his private Jet company for fun, started a coconut water company because he can "feel the trends before they rise", etc. What's more, he eventually marries a woman who, after realizing her butt looks bad in the "white pants she was wearing", goes and founds a "Spanx" which will eventually become a billion-dollar company. I mean, they just had it a bit "easier" in comparison to Goggins' story.
Now, Goggins is a guy who comes from a completely dysfunctional family, being abused and molested by his (step?) parents, being the only black kid in a white school, obviously being bullied there the whole time, having hard time even finishing the school after being told that he's "slow" or "incapable" or ... well, "whatever". I mean, this guy is as broken as you can get. Frankly, since, in his own words, suffering is all he ever knew of, he decides that he'll push himself off the limits on a daily basis. Now I won't go into the details, and I encourage you to watch his podcast with Joe Rogan or Tom Bilyeu, but I'll just mention that he went through THREE Navy SEAK hell weeks; in a SINGLE year!
So, this should give you a perspective I think. Two completely opposite types of guys, both being crazy enough to push themselves out of their comfort zone, but for completely different reasons.
And that's what fascinates me about this book and why I find it so enjoyable to read. Seeing Jesse break down slowly but steadily, but still not willing to say NO to a SEAL.
If you are looking for life lessons or anything, this book is definitely not it. But if you are looking for some pure pleasure of having two completely opposite guys living together for a month - definitely go for this book.
I generally find Jesse's style of writing to be enjoyable and funny. But again, you definitely have to watch podcasts on him and Goggins, to get the full experience here.
P.S. I actually think it'd be awesome if Goggins wrote a book as well, from his own perspective -- Living with a Billionaire. Or if basically they reversed the roles, having Jesse show Goggins all the pleasures of life. That would be a hell of a fun read as well!...more
Frankly, I gave it four stars only because I enjoyed the last 15% of the book so much. Otherwise it'd surely be 3 stars.
So, I'm of a mixed opinion herFrankly, I gave it four stars only because I enjoyed the last 15% of the book so much. Otherwise it'd surely be 3 stars.
So, I'm of a mixed opinion here. I read "The Shining" and "11/22/63" before this and I enjoyed both of them tremendously. Hence I guess i was expecting something ... more? Or different? I don't know really, but I was generally finding myself drifting off on couple of occasions. Plus, since I read it on Kindle, the "Misery" novel (the novel inside the novel) had such a horrible font that I had to skip it altogether. It was painful to read, so that might have messed it up for me as well.
All in all, I liked the book. I was honestly scared shitless and felt Paul's freakin' pain. And I could actually see freakin' Annie ... Damn you Stephen King and your characters!
Would I recommend it? I don't know. I guess I would? But I'd surely say that you should check the other works first....more
I give this book three stars mostly because it seems that author went on and on about absolutely non-interesting stuff in order to make some points.
InI give this book three stars mostly because it seems that author went on and on about absolutely non-interesting stuff in order to make some points.
In general, most of the chapters of this book seem to be organized the following way:
1. Author makes a statement about something (e.g. learning, motivation, coaching, etc.). This statement is a rock on one
2. Then he elaborates a bit on it. Why/how/what are his sources, etc. This is still great stuff
3. However, instead of stopping at point #2, now he starts elaborating on couple of pages about a person who did #2, how he did it, etc. Even this would be OK but I just felt as if I was reading page after page after page about every single hand-movement that the person did. I mean, it's cool stuff but I was already convinced at point #2 and would be OK without reading following 5 pages that brought absolutely 0 new or useful information.
So, if it weren't for point #3, which I felt pretty much bored with, I'd definitely give this book 5/5.
In general, amazing book with some amazing info (e.g. I had no idea that a loss of a parent at young age seems to be correlated with high achievers) which would be way better of without super-detailed examples.
Highly recommended for sure, but feel free to skip the details and samples from each chapter....more
Overall great book with plenty of useful information and hints on how to handle various scenarios when moving towards distributed setups.
I believe theOverall great book with plenty of useful information and hints on how to handle various scenarios when moving towards distributed setups.
I believe the general idea of the book is to give you an OVERVIEW of all possible scenarios, tools and problems, without going into too many details (if any?) of any specific problem (which would probably take a book on it's own for every single problem to be analysed in detail).
All in all, perfect book to have as a reference, while, if you want something that goes into way more depth, I'd definitely recommend "Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems"...more
EDIT: I had to edit this review the day after I published it.
The beauty of this book is not in the fact that it's just an amazingly immersive story wiEDIT: I had to edit this review the day after I published it.
The beauty of this book is not in the fact that it's just an amazingly immersive story with loveable characters. No.
The beauty of this book is the fact that it makes you THINK. Think in terms of NAPKIN MATH. As in - "okay, here's what's happening, I have no idea why but let's break it down step by step".
As a software engineer, I can honestly say that this skill is absolutely one of the most essential skills a senior developer should have. Because anyone can sew together a couple of libraries here and there and make a thing that would eventually work. But being able to DEBUG that stuff, especially when you have no clue how it works (!!!SPOILER AHEAD!!!! e.g. in terms of book -- how did Taumoeba escape the sealed container !!!SPOILER END!!!!) is as close to being magician as possible.
So, yeah, this books makes you THINK and specifically, shows you that it can be FUN TO THINK! :)
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Ok I honestly LOVED this book.
Can't say I enjoyed every part though, as I found some pages to be tedious and a bit draggy, but in total it's definitely 5/5.
Additionally, it definitely forced me to think about things (e.g. a link between intelligence and gravity, LOL!) and it definitely sparked a will to .. explore stuff :D...more
For whatever weird reason, but it literally served me as some kind of tranquilizer. If I had a bad day, I'd just open thisI loved this book. Honestly.
For whatever weird reason, but it literally served me as some kind of tranquilizer. If I had a bad day, I'd just open this book and hell well, read whatever line that Stephen King wrote and that'd kind of make me feel like I'm not freakin' alone! It's weird, I know.
What I also enjoyed (at first I wrote "tremendously liked" but then I recalled what SK actually suggests about adjectives) is that, somehow I made a connection between writing and programming. Not sure how or why but whatever he wrote about (preconditions, setup, etc.) I somehow felt the same when it comes to programming. Again, weird, I know.
Finally, as I'm trying to blog more or less regularly, there were quite some advices that actually stuck with me. Like:
1. You don't have to know the plot upfront -- whenever i'd start an article, I'd feel bad that I don't have the plot worked out. Well, it seems like others are also doing just fine without it :)
2. Reduce passive voice -- yeah this one was completely new to me, and I can definitely see the benefits
3. Write for your Ideal Reader -- I noticed that whatever I write, I always have this one particular friend in mind. As if i was writing something that I'd hope he'll like. Well, I'm happy that this has a name as well
4. Formula: First draft - 10% -- I guess it's pretty self explanatory. Write a first draft and reduce 10%
5. No adjectives -- as a uncrowned king of adjectives, I took this one as a personal punch. I thought that usage of adjectives is encouraged. Well, turns out that not quite so and he has a perfect example - "She closed the door angrily" vs "She slammed the door". Indeed, the second one reads and feels way better, right?
6. Show, don't tell -- again, something that seems to be Writing 101 but hell I never heard of it before. All of my articles would be like: "It was a beautifully warm summer day, with temperature in the low 30 degrees" while instead, I guess the proper way would be "People walking in shorts and sandals were enjoying these summer months" or something like that I guess. Basically, instead of explaining HOW it looks like, SHOW it instead.
Oh, and one more bonus thing that occurred as a direct consequence of this book. I literally started WRITING as a way to relax my brain after a heavy day. Yeah. It's weird because, honestly, writing DOES make me tired (again, I just blog, but still), but for whatever weird reason, this book flipped some weird switch so that now I usually write to relax. Weird but I love it!
Anyway, what shall I say except -- I loved it and will surely read it again!...more
I assume that my lack of knowledge about Professor Feynman is the reason I didn't really like this book. Frankly, I hate to admi3/5 stars, definitely.
I assume that my lack of knowledge about Professor Feynman is the reason I didn't really like this book. Frankly, I hate to admit it but I never heard about him up until I started reading this book.
To be honest, at least 40% of the time I wasn't actually sure whether I'm reading an autobiography of a Nobel prize winner or a book written by a pickup artist (and I read handful of those). I mean, every now and then he brags about his skills with women, culminating with the fact how he learned that the way to act with hot girls is to be a dick ... And not Dick, as in Dick Feynman, but dick as in prick ... I mean, WTF, ...
Aside from that, the book just goes on and on bragging about everything he did. I won't lie - he definitely did a lot of cool things, but I mean, 10 pages about how he's playing drums? Or dancing samba, or whatever? I would assume that this would be interesting to a hardcore fan of this guy but I just found it utterly boring and I skimmed through those pages.
Now, I would have given 1 star to this book but the reason why I gave it three stars is because I actually did like the message that it's trying to send, which is - don't take life too seriously. If you ignore all his, not sure if it's bragging or just writing for sake of writing those pages about how he picked locks, went to strip clubs, etc. If you just ignore those (and feel free to skim through them), you can actually see a really nice life philosophy of a super-intelligent guy, mixed with an unlimited amount of intellectual curiosity. This is what I LOVED about this book.
On top of that, this book actually helped me realize that me being quirky is actually not a bad trait and frankly it helped me feel better about myself.
So, the outmost message, if we exclude tons of bullshit details, is -- be curious, don't take anything for granted and just - play as much as possible!...more
In all honesty, aside the fact that it took me 4+ months to finish this book, I've gotta agree with one of my dear colleagues who said that this was pIn all honesty, aside the fact that it took me 4+ months to finish this book, I've gotta agree with one of my dear colleagues who said that this was probably one of the best books they've ever read.
Let me be straight honest - this book is HARD to read. It's just that, unless you are pretty familiar with the concepts, it really takes a lot of time, effort and research to actually fully understand each and every chapter. Some of them I had to read 2-3 times over the course of few weeks in order to fully understand the meaning of them.
However, do I regret spending so much time on this book? Absolutely not. What's more, I'm pretty sure that I'll be re-reading this book over and over and over again. Probably not in a linear fashion, but for sure I'll be revisiting many of the chapters here.
The book itself compresses mind blowing information about human minds and fallacies of decision & risk makers/takers. So many areas where I just recognized the exact same behavior that I repeatedly make, which, after having it disassembled by author, makes me wonder how ridiculous I was.
In all seriousness, this is really a book that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. Make sure to have something else that you are reading in parallel, and take your time to slowly and steadily crunch the content of this book. It'll be rewarding, I guarantee!...more
Before I dig into the details, let me do a quick review first -- WOW. That's a compressed version of how I feel after reading this book. And it got meBefore I dig into the details, let me do a quick review first -- WOW. That's a compressed version of how I feel after reading this book. And it got me weeping when I read the "Afterword", which effectively makes it the first book that blew my emotions all over the surface.
Now that I got that off of my chest, let me provide a bit more details. First, I honestly had no clue who Ed Catmull was. As in - never heard of him. I read a lot about Steve Jobs but I guess I never paid attention to Ed. What a shame! I came around this book while browsing through a shelf of a dear colleague of mine; and I liked the cover :) So I looked into it and I saw that another friend of mine shelved it as "to read". Ok, so two people whom I constantly steal the books from have shelved this book. There has to be something about it ... So, I buy it and ... oh boy!
This book is split into four parts. And I actually have different emotions and ratings to apply for each.
Part 1 --> this one just blew me. It's a story of how Pixar was built and all the struggles that Ed, John and others went through. If I could rate with more than 5 - I'd surely do so! I loved all the chapters here and I literally couldn't put the book down until I read all of it. I felt the sacrifice of couple of night's sleeps was well rewarded!
Part 2 --> this one is tricky. The thing is that, in parallel with this book, I was (am?) reading "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. Frankly, it felt to me like the whole Part 2 was kind of a summary of Kahneman's book. No idea if it's a coincidence or if the latter one just covered so many topics, but I was honestly bored here. It was okayish but I was bored. 3/5 here.
Part 3 --> Nice refreshment from Part 2. Some really useful advices on how to keep the wheel spinning. I give 4/5 here just because I enjoyed the Part 1 so much that I feel that giving 5 starts to this part would do a dishonour to it :)
Part 4 --> interesting stories of how they kept going once Pixar grew to 1,000+ employees and how they ensured that the "old culture" remains. 4/5 for the same reasons as above.
Afterword --> this one made me weep. Legit. The way Ed described Steve, whom I'm a big fan of is just ... touching. I just have to rate this chapter - 5/5!
So, why I loved this book so much? The answer is -- it provided me with a validation. Validation that the way I see management of people is not ludicrous! Seriously! I'm a programmer and I always considered programming to be an art form. Which makes people doing programming - artists. So how do you manage artists? Well, definitely not the way you'd manage a manufacturing line. However, I always had this inner confusion because the reality I was seeing was so distorted and misaligned with what I deeply believed in, that it actually made me question my beliefs. Reading this book gave me the confirmation I needed! I was right! And that's why I loved it!
So, 5/5 from me and there'll surely be another re-read!!
I avoided this book like a plague. I did have a plan of reading it some time, but I generally avoided it. Mostly because, as many do, I found the titlI avoided this book like a plague. I did have a plan of reading it some time, but I generally avoided it. Mostly because, as many do, I found the title to be preposterous and I kind of knew that it was written by a guy who is a "blogger". Really sounded like a classical clickbaity crap.
Well it changed one day. I asked a colleague how he manages to stay so calm when he sees AND hears so much crap. Like, it's pure crap. "Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, man. Second book is even better though!".
I'll be damned. Since he recommended it, I just had to give it a shot.
Honestly, I actually liked it. As in - I really enjoyed reading it. Not because I have learned ANYTHING new (I didn't) but because it came as a really cool summary of everything I read in the past 3-4 years (Thinking Fast and Slow, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius's stuff, Siddhartha, Extreme Ownership, etc.). It nicely wrapped and summarized everything up, all while using that strong and preposterous modern English.
The only thing I sort of disliked are the last two or three chapters. I found that a bit ... well, seems as if he got bored and just wanted to finish with it. Or it was me who got bored, but I digress.
Would I recommend it? Sure! It'll surely be valuable for ANYONE It's a pity that he didn't make any explicit references, even though he mentioned them here and there. So, if you finish this, make sure to explore the subjects in a bit more depth. Here's what I read and what I can recommend:
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman -- this is a classic and this one deals with all cognitive biases and other crap that we are (usually) not aware of. Mark makes a few references to this book, but it's rather - subtle :)
- Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin -- AMAZING book on owning your shit, pretty much, without blaming anybody else for it. Mark talks A LOT about this, especially in the first few chapters
- Stoicism in general. He actively mentions it, so I'll just give you some stuff that I read: -- Seneca's "On The Shortness of Life" (and other stuff by him) and other stuff. He was born extremely rich and ended up in exile ... The rest I won't spoil :) -- Then Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" seem to be a popular thing, although I didn't enjoy them (hint: Make sure to get a "Proprietary Reader" version) -- There's also stuff by Epictetus (father of Stoicism) but I haven't read those. Also, do note that "Meditations" mentioned above are Marcus Aurelius' notes from Epictetus' teachings
- Siddhartha by Hesse -- what a better book on a son who leaves the "boring" village to go and explore "world", hookers, etc., only to come back to where he started from :)
Finally, I'll just say one thing -- even though I do agree with what Mark is saying, don't get confused by thinking that you can AVOID going through all that crap. I think it's inevitable AND healthy and part of shaping yourself as a person!...more
Took me almost a year to read this book cover to cover and I'm definitely happy that I did.
Parts I and II are must-read for anyone interested in DDD. Took me almost a year to read this book cover to cover and I'm definitely happy that I did.
Parts I and II are must-read for anyone interested in DDD. They just give you an overview of what DDD is and how to use it. I believe most people actually give this book after finishing Part II.
Part III I actually spent over 6 months on and finally decided just to skim through.
Finally, Part IV got me back on track but will, surely, require at least one additional re-read.
Finally, I give this book 4/5 stars only because of seriously hard-to-understand examples that are used throughout the book (Accounting, Shipping company, ...). I do understand that author was probably looking for complex examples to base this book on, but to me, as a person who never dealt with anything similar to that, it was a real struggle to connect the dots and understand the examples.
All in all, as I said, definitely a must read for anyone interested in understanding what DDD is.
So, Book #1 -- AMAZING. Book #2 -- still funny. Books #3 and #4 -- honestly, it took me a while to read them but I didnt really find them amusing ... So, Book #1 -- AMAZING. Book #2 -- still funny. Books #3 and #4 -- honestly, it took me a while to read them but I didnt really find them amusing ... Hence, I gave this last book a chance purely for sake of just "completing" the series ... Hell, am I glad that I did!
This last book definitely made ma laugh as hard as I did reading the first one! Hence, I enjoyed every single bit of it. I was just sad that there was not a single mention of Zaphod though ... But, all in all - 5/5!...more
This is my second re-read. Frankly, this one was okayish, but I much more enjoyed the first book. This one felt way longer with sort of boring scenes This is my second re-read. Frankly, this one was okayish, but I much more enjoyed the first book. This one felt way longer with sort of boring scenes and dialogs. The last 4-5 chapters were cool, but the rest I read just for the sake of reading it ...
I'm giving 4/5 starts only because of the last few chapters that I really enjoyed and which were more in the style of the first book....more
Well, what can I say? One of the best books I started reading in 2020? Or the best one I read so far in 2021? :)
Joke aside now, this book was pretty mWell, what can I say? One of the best books I started reading in 2020? Or the best one I read so far in 2021? :)
Joke aside now, this book was pretty much the perfect one that I was looking for, because:
1. It literally came with an Action plan. As in -- do this, do that, avoid this, etc.
2. It covered a RANGE of topics, literally starting from Day 1 (i.e. your first day as a S.E. Manager), progressing through bunch of scenarios, and ending with some complex "How Tos" and even discussing how to further level up your game
3. It comes with a number of suggestions for OTHER valuable books to read
So, kind of exactly what I was looking for.
Who would I recommend this to? Well, if you ask me, this is like one of those classic programming books that everyone should read, regardless of the experience. So, is this book for you? Yes, it is....more
As many others have mentioned - it's the second part of the book that seems to deliver all the magic.
First part I found rather a bit tedious. It seemsAs many others have mentioned - it's the second part of the book that seems to deliver all the magic.
First part I found rather a bit tedious. It seems to discuss all the things that I've been aware of and which I already learned from plethora of blog posts. How to be a good Senior Developer, how to mentor people, etc. Plus, I recently read "Becoming an Effective Software Engineering Manager" which discusses the similar topics in depth.
However, the second part was a gem that I was looking for. Once the book starts discussing the various career paths and different managerial positions (managing projects, teams and managers), well, holy moly, I had hard time putting this book down to actually process what I read.
If it weren't for the second part, I'd probably go with 3/5. But hell, the complete package is 5/5.
Not sure if I ever sat and read a book in one evening. If not, I guess this would be the first one ...
I actually struggled in the beginning. Like, I hNot sure if I ever sat and read a book in one evening. If not, I guess this would be the first one ...
I actually struggled in the beginning. Like, I had hard time figuring out the characters and imagining them. So I resorted to actually writing all of them down - the names, characteristics, etc. And I left the book down for two days ...
And then I wanted to give it another shot. So I sat down around 6PM, determined to give it another shot or throw it away ...
Well, it's 10PM now and I'm done and I didn't even make a break while having dinner. I read while eating!
So, what else is there to say? First Agatha Christie book that I ever read? First fiction in 2021? First book read cover to cover (almost!) within a night?
Do I even need to mention the greatness of the book? I guess not, others have covered that!...more
Well, this has got to be one of the best books I've ever read. Honestly.
This also has to be one of the first books that made me weep.
I laughed, I weptWell, this has got to be one of the best books I've ever read. Honestly.
This also has to be one of the first books that made me weep.
I laughed, I wept, I shivered. I wanted Mark to survive this! And I felt his pain!
Now what I found even more funny is that this book actually made me rethink the "impossible". Like, here we have a guy who is stranded on Mars with probably 0 chance of survival. And yet, the way he approaches things is actually valuable.
I'd say this book taught me the problem solving. The mindset of problem solving at least. It kind of taught me that "impossible" might be possible, if you invest some thinking upfront.
All in all, I'd definitely recommend this book to ANYONE, and especially to anyone who is into engineering. You will love it!...more
Loading...
