;Jan 2026 ;1 min read

Reading List #

Books that stuck with me, and a line on why.

No rating system and no particular order. If a book is here, it earned the time and changed how I think about something.

Recently #

• The Art of Doing Science and Engineering — Richard Hamming. Half technique, half career advice from someone who watched computing get invented. The “you and your research” chapter is worth the whole book.
• A Philosophy of Software Design — John Ousterhout. The clearest argument I’ve read that complexity is the enemy and deep modules are the cure. Short, opinionated, correct.
• Designing Data-Intensive Applications — Martin Kleppmann. The book I wish I’d had before I ever touched a distributed system. I re-read a chapter roughly every time I break production.

Older, still with me #

• The Mythical Man-Month — Fred Brooks. Fifty years old and still describes every project I’ve been on.
• Working in Public — Nadia Eghbal. Changed how I think about open source maintenance and the cost of “free.”