Books I read (2009, 2008)

Recently I was thinking about which book to read next and came up with idea to make a list of books I've read over the last two years to understand where I'm now, where I'm heading to and may be read some of them again.

I hope you can find something interesting in this list. (Books I considered not related to software development are excluded.)

2009

• [!!] Made to stick - why nobody remember company mission statement right after they hear it, but everyone know urban legends? It's a very practical book telling why it happens and how to make you ideas spread. The book of the year.
• [!] Refactor your wetware - great collection of ideas about how to improve and rewire your mind. Contains a lot of interesting references to other books. Can be a life-changing book!
• Don't make me think - web usability 101. Awesome reading. Nice pictures. I wish I had read this book years ago.
• Presentation Zen - make presentations like Steve Jobs :) It's real.
• Domain Driven Design - software design as it should be.
• Refactoring to patterns - the name says everything. Refactoring + patterns.
• Real World Haskell - hands-on book about Haskell. I haven't finished it though :(
• User stories applied - a guide how to use user stories in XP and Scrum.
• Manage it! - practical agile project management.
• The Humane Interface - interesting and sometimes surprising view on human interaction with computer interfaces.
• Developing Multi-agent Systems with JADE - makes sense to read only if you like multi-agents or use JADE.

2008

• [!!] My job went to India (was renamed to The Passionate Programmer) - very honest and realistic view on programming. Nothing about coding, only real-life pieces of advice. This is like The Pragmatic Programmer 2nd no-technology-edition. The book of the year.
• [!] Getting real - concise and opinionated book about web development and software development in general. It's awesome. It's free and available online in HTML format.
• Ruby Way - my favorite ruby cook-book. I still read it every now and then.
• Effective Java 2nd edition - a must-to-read book for every java developer. (Even if you've read 1st edition.)
• Implementation patterns - for me it's a bit unusual, but very interesting view on programming. Kent Beck can always take ordinary things and turn them around. This is Small Talk Best Practices rewritten for java.
• Analysis patterns - code is not the only thing you can reuse. Conceptual models might be more appropriate. Martin Fowler's first book. I'm a fan.
• Clean code - you should really care about your code. Agile Principles, Patterns, Practices was better, though.
• Release it! - real-life description how to create web applications which don't fail after going into production. (This book is focused on java.)
• Pragmatic SVN - concise and pragmatic guide to SVN.
• How to become a highly paid corporate programmer - controversial book. I didn't agree with a lot of things. That's why I kept reading.
• Scrum and XP from the trenches - real-life view on Scrum. Concise and easy to read. It's free to download from infoq.com.
• A Guide to the PMBOK - "old-school" ideas about management. Boring to read but very useful.
• Black swan - accept that there are unknowns you don't know about. Models we use to predict future will never really work. This is pragmatic nihilism.