Tag: books
-
Book: Hidden Figures
Everyone was talking about Hidden Figures the movie, so I figured I should at least read Hidden Figures the book (Amazon). It was amazing. First, the stories of these women go way beyond the snippets I’d heard about them. Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectories, but also graduated from high school at 14, spoke fluent French, and…
-
Book: Sex Object
I thought Sex Object (Amazon) was a fantastic book. It was so real, so smart, and the observations mix with her own life perfectly. It’s full of killer observations about being a woman in the world, the way in which women are objectified, used, and abused. It captures horrifying things that happened – such as men on…
-
Book: 80,000 Hours
80,000 Hours (Amazon) is a book more for early career people, so I didn’t get a huge amount out of it – other than validation on some of my choices and confirmation that others (**cough** grad school **cough**) were perhaps a bit questionable. There’s also a newsletter which I found interesting at first, but in general…
-
Book: Demystifying Public Speaking
I got to read an early draft of Demystifying Public Speaking (Amazon) and it was exciting to revisit it and read the published version. It’s the perfect, to the point, read for those who are wondering how to get started public speaking, or facing their first talk unsure of how to prepare. The chapter on feedback is…
-
Book: Thinking Fast and Slow
Thinking Fast and Slow (Amazon) is about two modes of information – superficial and quick (system 1), and in depth and slow (system 2). It’s interesting to be reading this book after Brexit, amidst the US election, because what occurs to me is that the slogans of Brexit (now demonstrably false) and the nonsense of…
-
Book: Why Him? Why Her?
I’ve no recollection of buying Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love and no idea why I did. Some random mood 1-2 years ago, most likely – and carried around on my Kindle ever since. One chapter in I hated it. It was explaining personality traits by hormones, something that was debunked…
-
Book: The Year Without Pants
I found The Year Without Pants super bro, and despite the subtitle containing “the future of work” didn’t really feel like it said anything about the future of work. It’s a memoir of a year spent working remotely and a snapshot of a point in time at a particular company, and I found it a bit…
-
Book: The Laws of Simplicity
I read The Laws of Simplicity (Amazon) on a recommendation, and really appreciated it. Both as a look back to where design seemed to be going when it was written (it was published in 2006), and for the laws themselves. Reduce. The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. Organize. Organization makes a system…
-
Book: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Amazon) initially irked me because it fell under a class of book that I call “Advice for White Men” (my blog post on this topic). It’s about how you can be oblivious to certain characteristics, and never receive feedback on them – and of course all but…