Monday, April 25, 2011

Recommendations for good technical books for vacation ?

I will soon be taking a long overdue vacation. Under duress, I have had to promise that I won't take my laptop.

Any recommendation for good technical books given that,

  1. I won't have access to a computer (won't be able to run through code samples, etc., so no point in taking my copy of 'WPF Unleashed' )

  2. Have to carry the book around Thailand

From stackoverflow

  • Leave the books home. Enjoy Thailand.

    Manos Dilaverakis : +1 for being the voice of reason
    Patrick McDonald : -1 for not answering the question, it's ironic how the answer which does the most to not answer the OP's question gets upvoted the most
    Yehonatan : +1 and @Patrick it does answer the question. Maybe you need a vacation to Bangkok.

  • Print out some of those RFCs you have been meaning to read for the plane.

    Yehonatan : +1 for the joke.
    haylem : What joke??! There was a joke?

  • Don't Make me Think, Steve Krug.

    Fun reading, lots of pictures, don't have to concentrate on it, and it will significantly improve your UI design skills.

  • I like reading the about the softer side of programming on holiday to pump up my motivation when I return. I've enjoyed Practices of an Agile Developer and Software Estimation on tour so far. Both are fairly slim and very readable.

    But remember to enjoy the trip!

  • Lonely Planet, Thailand and Lonely Planet, Thailand's Islands and Beaches

    Tim : Liked the Rough Guide better myself, but hey: Any book without code in it. +1

  • Generally when I travel I like to have some trashy piece of fiction (Dan Brown or the like), but if you must have a technical book I'd recommend something in the realm of the theoretical. I'd go for The Mythical Man-Month or Code Complete. Also, eat lots of spicy food.

  • I'm with @ocdecio, but for some technical-flavored fiction look at these questions:

  • ocdecio has great advice, but if you're determined to read anyway, find a book on philosiphy of development not on coding. Some suggestions:

    • Code Complete (good but big for packing around)
    • Mythical Man Month
    • Peopleware (especially if you are or want to be in a leadership position)

    Enjoy Thailand.

    Shivasubramanian A : U mean to say, ocdecio has great advice? matt_randle is the OP.
    Jim Blizard : Yea, thanks. I'll edit

  • Bring a novel to read on the plane. Leave it in your hotel room while you enjoy your vacation.

  • read a good biography, that always recharges me

  • Check out the books at the airport... you just might find the one your after.

  • Shouldn't you be playing towers of Hannoi instead? ;)

    Edit: Wrong country there! Damn geography... on my next vacations I should read an atlas!

    haylem : s/Hannoi/Hanoi/ ?

  • I'm currently enjoying Pragmatic Thinking and Learning. Easy to carry, fun & interesting.

  • Here is my list with good recently published books related to .NET and Web development:

    http://www.riaguy.com/books/

    Also there is an RSS feed.

  • Though I up-voted Otavio's answer, I'd usually have the same hitch as you, so here's a few semi-technical books I'd recommend you to read. Semi-technical, as they are IT- or hackerdom-related but are not necessarily technical books riddled with details. For this kind of vacation, I like historical/autiobiographical books where you learn from the insight more than from the technical bits.

    Here it goes:

    Then you can go for some classics as well, though not recommended for everyone, like:

    I wouldn't recommend bringing Knuth's Art of Computer Programming with you in your backpack, except if you want an extreme work-out.

Posted by Mu Cat at 11:22 PM

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