The Bookshelf
Table of Contents
Books I’ve read.
Programming⌗
Professional CMake: A Practical Guide⌗
Craig SCOTT
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
A reference manual for CMake. I was hoping for something more like a project-based walkthrough, but it is very thorough and a useful reference for many topics.
I often discover a feature in the book, try to use it, then Google my way around making it work for my use case. Overall, this has simplified my build configurations greatly, for example using FetchContent_Declare and FetchContent_MakeAvailable to manage dependencies.
There are also pages summarizing best practices which I find very useful to get an idea of how to do thing well.
Nonfiction⌗
When Genius Failed⌗
The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
Roger LOWENSTEIN
A book about the rise and fall of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund from the 1990s. I thought it was interesting to see famous academics joining the team to confront their theories to the reality of the markets. Many famous names in the book. The narration is a bit slow, it could have been a few pages shorter, but overall interesting and entertaining.
Key takeaways:
- Black swans happen and are not always covered or anticipated by academics
- The more leverage we have, the more we need to prepare for unlikely events
- When things get bad enough, governments and banks can work together to avoid worst-case scenarios
Black Edge⌗
Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street
Sheelah KOLHATKAR
The story of SAC Capital and Steven Cohen, all the controversies and cases that surrounded them. As with many other books of this style, I would have liked it a bit shorter and more to the point, but it is interesting and gives insight into the world of hedge funds from a different point of view than the LTCM book.
Bad Blood⌗
Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
John CARREYROU
The story of biotech startup Theranos, and Elizabeth Holmes. I had only heard about the company in passing and was amazed at how much money and talent they were able to get a hold of before things went south. Famous people got more or less conned into giving them money! A bit long towards the end, but a good read about the way Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and VCs can sometimes go too far.
The Man Who Solved the Market⌗
How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution
Gregory ZUCKERMAN
A kind of biography of Jim Simons and his hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. Nothing technical in it, but it’s an easy read, and has interesting anecdotes about the founder and the employees of the famous hedge fund.
Weapons of Math Destruction⌗
How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
Cathy O’NEIL
The book is a shortlist of concrete examples, breaking the illusion of impartiality in data-driven models. I think the closing paragraphs of the book explain its point clearly:
Data is not going away. […] Predictive models are, increasingly, the tools we will be relying on to run our institutions, deploy our resources, and manage our lives. […] these models are constructed not just from data but from the choices we make about which data to pay attention to - and which to leave out. These choices are not just about logistics, profits, and efficiency. They are fundamentally moral.
The book’s examples and case studies include:
- Moneyball
- Statistics on recidivism
- College and university rankings
- Personality tests in job applications
I think this book makes an important point but stops short of offering a solution.
Career⌗
Developer Hegemony - The Future of Labor⌗
Erik DIETRICH
Read in Progress
The author’s thoughts on how to manage one’s career as a programmer, and his observations and experiences from working in large companies, startups, and as an independant consultant.
Finance⌗
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing⌗
John BOGLE
A short book with lots of diagrams showing why it can make sense to invest in ETFs rather than active funds. Clear and easy to follow.
Two points that summarize this book, in my opinion:
- Few active money managers beat the market
- If you are paying management fees, then your active money manager would need to beat the market by more than the fees to be worth it
I believe high school or university students should read this, to get a basic idea of what to do with their money.
Fiction⌗
Men Without Women⌗
Haruki MURAKAMI
A collection of short stories, reminded me of “Je voudrais que quelqu’un m’attende quelque part” from Anna Gavalda. The stories are slices of life, each one about a man’s relationship with a woman. The endings are very open to interpretation, somewhat bittersweet.
A good quick read.
Jack Reacher⌗
Lee CHILD
Killing Floor (book 1)⌗
The first book of the Jack Reacher series. First-person narration, lots of short sentences, make it feel like the main character has some behavioral flaws. Lots of action, a bit of a Jason Bourne on steroids. Reads nice and fast, entertaining.
Die Trying (book 2)⌗
The second book of the Jack Reacher series. This time in third-person narration, we have to follow multiple characters at the same time, which I felt didn’t flow as nicely as the first book. Jason Bourne on steroids.
Books 3 to 10⌗
All easy and entertaining reads. Plots are okay, lots of action, a few side stories along the way to keep the main character interesting. I will read more of this series.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd⌗
Agatha CHRISTIE
Can’t really say why it’s good without spoiling it, but it’s good and well worth a read. An unusual plot twist.
Fantasy⌗
The Dresden Files (books 1 to 15)⌗
Jim BUTCHER
Harry Dresden is the only wizard detective of Chicago. He’s a confident guy who wields both revolvers and fireballs (and sarcasm). As he investigates a series of homicides, he ends up in more trouble than he could ever have imagined. As the series goes on, the main character learns a lot and matures along the way, makes friends, loses friends. Very entertaining!
The Mistborn Trilogy⌗
Brandon SANDERSON
| Book | Rating | Goodreads |
|---|---|---|
| The Final Empire | Link | |
| The Well of Ascension | Link | |
| The Hero of Ages | Link |
In a world where people can eat metals to gain magical powers, a young woman goes from beggar to hero when she discovers her own rare and powerful abilities.
I loved the first tome, liked the second one, and slowly bore through the third one. I felt that it started full of action, new ideas, punchy dialogue, and slowly became slower, more depressing, with a lot of inner dialogue from multiple characters towards the end. I guess since the end of the world is coming, it makes sense to change the mood of the characters accordingly, I just had a hard time finishing it.
I was also not a fan of the ending, which felt a bit like a Deus Ex Machina. Overall worth a read.
The Black Prism⌗
Brent WEEKS
An awkward kid turns out to be the son of the most powerful man in the world. Magic works in an interesting way, not unlike in the Mistborn trilogy. Easy to read and entertaining, will read the rest of the saga.
The Kingkiller Chronicles⌗
Patrick ROTHFUSS
| Book | Rating | Goodreads |
|---|---|---|
| The Name of the Wind | Link | |
| The Wise Man’s Fear | Link |
The story, told by himself, of Kvothe, a musician-wizard-thief-assassin that seems to be infamous for reasons we still don’t know. His parents were killed by mysterious bad guys when he was still a (naive genius) kid, and he decided to do what it takes to find out more about them. The story has ups and downs, but it is well-written and captivating. More books are yet to come in this saga, and I will definitely read them.
Science-fiction⌗
Childhood’s End⌗
Arthur C. CLARKE
One of my favorite and most depressing reads this year. The story of a community that creates a utopic society, mysterious aliens that come to benevolently rule earth, and evolution. Thought-provoking and hard not to finish in one go.
The Lathe of Heaven⌗
Ursula K. LE GUIN
Another of my favorite books this year. The main character can alter reality while dreaming, his psychiatrist realizes this and tries to work with it, only for things to go really out of whack. Psychedelic and mesmerizing.
14⌗
Peter CLINES
A guy finds a nice studio in an old building, for a surprisingly cheap rent. Turns out the building is weird (really weird) and stuff happens as the protagonist and his neighbors try to understand more about it.
I found this book fun and easy to read. The characters and dialogues were entertaining and the plot was interesting.