Category Archives: Books

About books I’m reading, have read, or would like to read.

An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming, 3rd ed

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Jacques Chester

I’ve had Timothy Budd’s textbook on object-oriented programming on my bookshelf for some time. It was a textbook in one of my undergraduate courses and, at the time, it only received a fairly cursory inspection (though not before becoming the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Software Engineering | Comments Off

Collected Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Jacques Chester

Sometimes, when I think nobody is looking, I like to indulge in the pleasant daydream that I am intelligent. In order to conceal the truth I must occasionally read more deeply into things than any smart person would have to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Literature | Comments Off

From Dawn to Decadence

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Jacques Chester

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a prophetess with a particular curse. Her prophecies of tragedy are inerrant, but they are never believed. She is forever doomed to see each tragedy twice, knowing that without the curse, her prophecies could have … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History | 1 Comment

To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Jacques Chester

So, it’s been a while since I wrote a book review. And I have, in fact, been reading the odd book here and there. I read everyone’s favourite late-noughties manifesto The Lean Startup, which was a few good insights smothered … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Software Engineering, Systems | Comments Off

Anatomy of Movement

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Jacques Chester

Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain, is a damn good book. Some time ago I bought, read and reviewed Lon Kilgore’s Anatomy Without a Scalpel. It’s a decent book, helpfully focused on strength trainees, and the chatty text makes it … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Weightlifting | Comments Off

The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary Edition

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Jacques Chester

I’ve had a Kindle DX for about 3 or 4 years now. In fact I’ve had two, I broke the first one by dropping it from a bench top. And I’ve been very happy with it. But it’s funny that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History, Software Engineering | Comments Off

Books I Read on Holidays

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Jacques Chester

My busted shoulder did me a single favour over the Christmas-New Years period. It excused me from being useful at my sister’s new home, where she and my brother-in-law are frantically working to fix the place up before moving in. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Comments Off

Picturing the Uncertain World

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Jacques Chester

Part of my current development project is conveying to people that estimates are uncertain. Every estimate comes with unforeseeable risks (and many foreseeable ones that nobody takes the time to foresee). But how best to represent this graphically? For some … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Comments Off

Tested Advertising Methods

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Jacques Chester

I’m not sure where I got the recommendation for Tested Advertising Methods (5th Edition) by John Caples and edited by Fred E. Hahn. It might have been a comment on Hacker News or possibly one of the fine recommendations that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Business | Comments Off

The Essence of Hayek (Part 1)

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Jacques Chester

In April I wrote a long, winding review of Drift into Failure. I was very proud of it: in the space of several thousand words I visited complex systems, fuzzy logic and the usefulness of positivistic thinking. It met with … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economics and public policy, Systems | 1 Comment