Archive for the ‘My Bookshelf’ Category

The Alchemist

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Click to buy The Alchemist

I’ve read this book numerous times and I did it again last weekend after hearing that it will be filmatized soon.

The Alchemist is a beautiful and extremely well written tale about a poor Andalusian boy, Santiago, who has a dream telling him to go to the the pyramids in Egypt. A treasure would be waiting there for him.

Santiago takes a chance and sells his only possession, a herd of sheep, and starts an adventure. He travels across the sea and the desert. His faith in the good in every person is exploited several times, he is robbed and his life is threatened but he makes his way to the pyramids only to find out that his treasure was buried in the very same place where he started his adventure.

There is something inspiring in this book as it is full of hope, faith and love. Yes, life may (and will) kick you in the nuts sometimes but eventually you will win if you have faith in yourself, take chances and you keep humbly doing what you think is right. So far I can attest this is true.

Free Ebooks: Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

Click to buy Cult of iPodClick to buy Cult of Mac

My feet are sore from skiing and while spending some time surfing I noticed that
Leander Kahney (of Wired fame) and his publisher, No Starch Press, have uploaded two Kahney books in DRM-free PDF format to the notorious file sharing site, The Pirate Bay. The books are Cult Of iPod and Cult of Mac. I have to say that this is a bold move, even if the books are not “hottest of the hot” anymore.

If you prefer hard copies, please click the cover images.

Btw, the book covers are fantastic! One good reason to get the books to the bookshelf…

Scrum and XP from the Trenches

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

Click to buy Scrum and XP from the Trenches

Scrum is one of the hottest things in the software development industry nowadays. It is gaining popularity rapidly everywhere, replacing the waterfall model which has brought enough suffering and unhappiness to the world. The company I work for is also heavily committed to Scrum.

This book does not explain what Scrum is and it doesn’t try to convert anyone. It is all about explaining how Scrum framework has been applied to the work of the companies that the author, Henrik Kniberg, has been consulting. This book is “an agile war story” as Henrik Kniberg puts it.

I have once been listening to Henrik Kniberg and he is an excellent, inspiring speaker. The book is very similar. The author makes his points efficiently and does not waste time theorizing and repeating himself. Once you start this book, it’s hard to stop.

While reading this book I found a couple of ideas for my daily work as a ScrumMaster. This does not sound a lot but I am sure there would have been much more for me to learn from this book unless our agile coach wasn’t such a big fan of Henrik Kniberg and hadn’t taken most of the ideas in use already.

I highly recommend this book for any practioning ScrumMaster or Product Owner (or wannabes) who want to get some new ideas. The developers who are interested in actively affecting the way Scrum is practioned in their companies might also find this book useful but for the management I recommend something else — at least to begin with.