Guus Bosman

software engineering director

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Here I keep track of some of the books that I've read, often with a short review and some personal thoughts. These are only a selection since I read a lot more books for work.

I like to read book in their original languages where possible: French, German, Dutch, English and I even read three books in Bulgarian. Here is the list of books I'd like to read. See also books about technology or management, and my all-time favorite books.

I'm an engineer, and enjoy science fiction novels. Some of my favorite authors are Vernor Vinge, Terry Pratchett and LE Modesitt Jr. No overview of my reading habits would be complete without mentioning The Economist -- I love that magazine.

Books below are in order of date read; this overview starts in October 2002.


Topic: 
internet

Rework

Thu, 06/03/2010 - 10:12pm

A small book with great ideas. It describes an 'agile' approach to business -- how to think small and be effective.

It's an inspirational book, written with a great mindset: keep it simple, release early, be nimble.

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
9780307463746
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English for work
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Topic: 
internet

Operating Systems: Design and Implementation

Tue, 05/11/2010 - 12:00am

My first introduction to large scale development.

When I was 16 years old I borrowed this book from our neighbor next door. I brought it on vacation in France, and still remember the smell of fresh cut grass when I was reading this book in France, over and over again. The Appendix contained the entire source code of Minix.

Years later when I did my Master's Degree in Amsterdam I followed two courses by the author, Andrew Tanenbaum.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum
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English for work
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Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Tue, 05/11/2010 - 12:00am

This book needs no further introduction. I read it when I was 14, 15 and this helped me decide to take on a degree in Computer Science.

Douglas Hofstadter
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English for work
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Topic: 
internet

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software

Tue, 05/11/2010 - 12:00am

In my first job at Chess patterns where just coming in fashion in the mid-1990's. Can't say that the GoF is a book that's great to read but it has a wealth of knowledge distilled.

Gang of Four
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English for work
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The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

Sun, 11/01/2009 - 12:00am

I especially enjoyed the first part; the history of electricity and how technology transformed entire industries. The book makes the case that a similar revolution will take place in computing; where providers of cloud computing facilities will serve a role like electricity producers do today.

Nicholas Carr
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English for work
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The Catcher in the Rye

Sat, 09/19/2009 - 6:02pm

Terribly depressing. Nicely done how it transfers you into the depressing life of an adolescent, the author writes well, but depressing nevertheless.

J. D. Salinger
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English
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To Kill a Mockingbird

Sat, 09/12/2009 - 10:59am

Another classic. Very Southern; nice to read a book from a child's perspective of live, with mysterious things being scary etc.

Harper Lee
978-0-446-31078-9
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English
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Brave New World

Tue, 09/08/2009 - 7:55am

A beautiful science fiction book, well written, original and with an interesting angle. Such a relief after reading Slaughterhouse-Five. Enjoyed it.

The copy of the book I read had a quote by the predecessor of our local newspaper, which used to be the Raleigh News & Observer.

Aldous Huxley
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English
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Slaughterhouse-Five

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 9:58am

I was quite disappointed with this book. It was on my list of 'famous books I never had time for in high school' so I figured it would be interesting, in one way or another, but it really wasn't.

This book must have been become famous for its political impact -- not for its literary impact. It was boring. Luckily it's very small so I finished it in a few hours.

Kurt Vonnegut
0440180295
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English
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De Asielzoeker

Sun, 09/06/2009 - 10:54am
De Asielzoeker is a beautiful but depressing book about a man's journey through life, and the role that his dying wife has played in it. The book won the Dutch AKO literatuurprijs in 2004 and it's easy to see why -- it's beautifully written with characters that are well thought out and executed. The downside was the depressing story line -- it's just so sad and depressing! The main character feels that life consists of illusions and self deception, and his way of approaching life is therefore very cold and, again, depressing. A beautiful read, over all. This book was a present by Jessica.
Arnon Grunbreg
90 388 2706 7
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Dutch
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