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.


Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

I take self-improvement books with a large grain of salt. Still, an enjoyable read.

Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz
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English for work
Topic: 

Крадецът на праскови (the Peach Thief)

Крадецът на праскови or The Peach Thief in English, is a Bulgarian roman about the doomed relationship between a colonel's wife and a prisoner of war.

The main part of the story is told in flashbacks to the World War I in Veliko Turnovo in Bulgaria. The story itself is straightforward but it is an entertaining read. The author does a fine job of describing the atmosphere of Bulgaria in that time, and it's a beautifully written book.

Емилиян Станев
9546076155
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Bulgarian

Shark tales

I saw this book Monday night when I went to the library. I borrowed 4 other books but this one was the first I read and finished because it was so entertaining.

It's a great collection of lawyer stories and jokes. Most of them pretty short, 2 or 3 pages, and very entertaining. "So, do I get to keep the sheep?"

Ron Liebman
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English

Geschiedenis van de VOC

When we visited the Amsterdam Historical Museum last year I bought De Geschiedenis van de VOC. This book by Femme Gaastra deals with history of the VOC, the Dutch East India Company.

Femme Gaastra
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Dutch

Die Verwandlung

A month ago I read Die Verwandlung by Kafka. It had been a long time since I read a book in German. Kafka is one of my favorite authors and reading this book was a great joy.

The language of the book is so beautiful, and it's really nice to be able to read it in its original language. The opening sentence for example, is a classic beauty: Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt. Note that in English the word Ungeziefer is often translated to vermin, an interesting choice. Would a Dutch translator use ongedierte?

The story was touching and absurd at the same time. A google on the book shows that there are many different explanations for what the story "really" means, and I'm glad I enjoyed it as much as I did without trying the understand the deeper meaning.

Franz Kafka
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German

Nederlandse Historiën

When I visited the Netherlands last October I spent a very nice day with my parents in Amsterdam. After we visited a great museum, we went to the Scheltema bookstore at the Koningsplein where I bought "Nederlandse Historien".

This is a new translation of arguably the best-known Dutch history book. It's written by by P.C. Hooft and the original edition, according to Brittanica, is from 1642.

P.C. Hooft
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Dutch

Open Source Licensing

In my profession it's important to understand the implications of various licenses, beyond "GPL is viral" and "Apache is fine". This book was recommended to me by a co-worker, and it does indeed a great job in explaining the various intricacies of various licenses. While the material can be a bit dry sometimes, the book is very readable and I actually enjoyed reading it.

Obviously, reading this book doesn't mean alleviate the need for a corporate lawyer but it gives the reader a solid introduction into the area of open source licenses and what they try to achieve. It's interesting how the different licenses handle software patent issues and to see the differences in the patent defense approaches.

The book is written in 2004, so it makes no mention of the new GPLv3 license and more recent development of software patents as they relate to open source.

It is actually available on-line as well (http://www.rosenlaw.com/oslbook.htm), appropriately under an Academic Free License.

Lawrence Rosen
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English for work

Managing Humans, biting and humorous tales of a software engineering manager

A great, fun read with experiences of a fellow engineering manager. Very recognizable.

Michael Lopps
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English for work

Server-Based Java Programming

Years ago, in 2004, I ran my first project as a team-lead. We created a small transactional site for a TV-show, some type of lottery, and we knew that we would have a massive amount of traffic on the evening of the broadcast.

It was right around this time that I read this book, and it had some great info about multi-threading and scalability.

When the day of the TV show came, all was well and the server held up beautifully. A few days later we heard that the government had stopped the lottery from functioning since it turned out to break certain regulations. So there was no winner in the lottery but... my first high-profile project worked.

I'm sure it's dated now, but at the time it was a great read.

Ted Newark
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English for work

Rails for Java Developers

I used this book to help make my case to introduce Ruby on Rails in other products in our company.

Stuart Halloway, Justin Gehtland
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English for work

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