Reading List

A fun art book about introspection, existentialism, and more by Ramin Nazer.

A rewrite of The Anxious Generation, slimmed down to keep only the most important parts and written for a kid/teenager audience. It's half how-to, and half graphic novel. It's a quick read for adults, and my 8 year old enjoyed it as well.

This book objectifies the "Resistance", the feeling that prevents you from getting started on whatever it is you need to do. Focused on writing and creative works, these lessons are short and insightful and apply to any kind of work that needs to get done. This is a book I leave out and read a few chapters of whenever I need to kickstart some creative work.

A tour of how your mind works (and how to tame it) through a fun metaphor and great illustrations.

One of my kids had issues with their teeth. Every time we'd go to the dentist, they would need fillings, crowns, etc.. (they were under 5). The dentist told us to "brush better", "floss more", "eat less sticky candy", etc... as if we weren't already doing all those things.

Eventually I got fed up and read this book. It explains mouth bacteria and a regiment of mouthwashes to use. As a family we all switched to following it.

I've always had good dental health, but after months of using the mouth washes my dental hygienist at a cleaning appointment mentioned "Wow - I have nothing to clean off your teeth". My kid has not had any teeth problems since. We found a new dentist for them too, and they fully support the mouthwash regiment, noting that they wish all their patients would follow it (patients don't because compliance of 3 mouthwashes is "hard", even though it's only added 45 seconds to our teeth brushing routines).

An eye-opening look at data that points to social media addictions and how it is negatively impacting mental health of everyone (especially kids). I think a lot of people intuitively know that many social media apps and phone culture are bad for them, but this book finally points to over a decade of research that backs up those ideas.

Densely packed life advice on helping prioritize what's important and how to do more of that.

Teaches several techniques for improving your ability to draw what you see in front you.

A brief etiquette guide for prep school students.

A history of how art has evolved through the centuries. And how art changed once photography became widespread.

A surprising look at how piracy and other illegal activities take place on the high seas in modern times.

The basics of how to fish. Great if your kids want to learn to fish and you have no clue what you are doing.

A fun and easy to digest overview of many statistics and machine learning concepts. From the other of the StatsQuest YouTube channel.

I never understood how my laundry habits were reducing the longevity of my clothes until reading this short book. Written by someone who really understands textiles, it has changed the way we wash our clothes, leaving them nicer and lasting longer. It also is a nice book to keep in the laundry room as a stain removal guide reference.

How acro mode drones fly. The physics behind different maneuvers and theory needed to get better at freestyle flying. Great diagrams for learning the physics of drone flight.

Everything non-technical you need to know about deploying machine learning models to production environments. Great tips on product design, product market fit, customer service, testing, monitoring, and more.

How to market your art (or projects, accomplishments, or anything) to others.

A comprehensive guide for the beginner to intermediate for learning the ins and outs of Microsoft SQL Server's T-SQL.

This may be my most referenced book of all time - I pick it up off the bookshelf a couple of times per year when I feel like I can improve some aspect of my executive function. It shows how to manage all tasks (work, family, personal) as a series of systems in this book. It has allowed me to never forget to get things done, but also helped me prioritize and clear my head of tasks so I can actually have capacity to think. It's taught me how to prioritize what's important to me rather than have a flood of other people's problems take over my day.

It's taken me years to implement these systems (and I still make tweaks to my systems on a regular basis), but the methods described in this book have helped me. If you start trying to do what the book teaches, I recommend picking your biggest pain point and implement the techniques to solve that first. Once that's habitual, move on to the next technique.

Deep dive into how the internals of Microsoft SQL Server work. For advanced users, but amazing at explaining how the query engine works.

A framework for having difficult conversations. Lots of actionable techniques that have worked well for me both personally and professionally.

A classic for a reason. A little dated, but still great lessons in how to communicate effectively and understand what others want.

History of the creation of GPS and how it works. TL;DR, triangulation and accurate clocks, but extremely well written and a fascinating history.

How computers work. Starts with examples of tin cans and string, and builds its way up to a functioning computer. Inspired me to build Ben Eater's 8-bit computer on breadboards.

Fantastic reference for what every DIY sparky needs to know when remodeling with electricity in a newer home.

My favorite guide for backpacking cooking recipes. Recipes are great, techniques and bulk food per person calculations are even better.

This book made me a better parent. It gave me new perspective on playing games with my kids to better understand what they are feeling. A little bit lengthy at times, but plenty of actionable ideas for improving the relationship with kids.

Reflective guide to understanding how your ego can get in the way of everything and how to tamp it down.

Full of motivation and inspiration. David Goggins is an unique guy with a lifetime of incredible stories.

How to have conversations with customers that will reveal the truth about their needs or wants. Often customers will misguide you with their feedback for a variety of reasons and tell you what you want to hear. This book explains how to frame your communications and questions so that you learn valuable insight from customers.

Thoughts on how creativity and making your art leads to a fulfilling and satisfying life. Great illustrations.

Huge pictures and detailed explanations of how movie magic worked with matte paintings before CGI. Incredible artistry from the matte painters and great behind the scenes of how different types of matte painting effects work.

Detailed guide on how to manage a portfolio of projects. Prioritizing, cost benefit, risk assessment, and more.

Fun stories from Arnold on work ethic and discipline.

How an art thief stole hundreds of artworks from museums, doing so not for financial gain, but for his own appreciation of the art.

How wool goes from sheep to yarn. Follows the author's humorous and enlightening adventure in trying to process a bale of wool into yarn through U.S. farms, dyers, and mills.

Build common machine learning models from first principles and primatives in Python.

The importance of tough conversations with coworkers and employees. How to be truthful to help others develop without being a jerk.

Tips for prioritizing what's important in your life. We usually have plenty of time to accomplish whatever we want to, but we are misallocating that time on things that aren't important to us.

A follow up to the Phoenix Project. A fictional story eschewing the benefits of agile software development.

A historical look at how John Carmack, John Romero, and the rest of ID Software created the computer game DOOM.

Realize how dopamine-driven apps negatively impact your work and mental health.

Riveting story about Stuxnet, the computer worm that infected an air-gapped Iranian nuclear facility, destroying physical infrastructure through code.

The computer game DOOM was on the cutting edge of what was technically possible with computers when it was released. This book breaks down a lot of the theory (and code) of DOOM's tricks for high-performance, as well as history of how the game came to be.

I've never formally had a job in sales, but I loved the perspective this book gave me on understanding what it means to "sell": understanding a customer's needs, problem solving, relationship building, and providing great customer service. These skills have helped immensely in my day job as well as in all relationships.

A fictional story eschewing the benefits of DevOps.

Statistics and analysis of bear attacks in North America. My over analytical brain needed to rationalize this data before I became comfortable camping in the backcountry in grizzly territory.

A look at the paintings of James Niehues, whose work you probably recognize if you have looked at ski trail maps. Lots of beautiful map paintings, wish there was more stories included about the ski map art business.

A look at clothing store J. Crew's rise to success and falling from prep culture.

Stories behind deaths and injuries in Yellowstone National Park. Having been there multiple times and seeing what some visitors do, I was not surprised by these tales.

Four stories with interconnected plots, full of twists and surprises. The first story was a little slow, but after that I could not put the book down.

I have tried reading and listening to this multiple times. I know people love it. I should love it. But I can't get into it.

This was my attempt to see if I enjoy manga but I struggled. I didn't do a good job of enjoying the drawings and instead found myself speed reading the text.