I love to read. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve almost always had books nearby. In fact, I used to go to the PASS Summit with 5-6 books in my suitcase, just in case I went on a reading spurt while I was there. I’ve actually finished 4 or 5 books during that trip.

Every year, I used to love to see Paul Randal’s summary of his reading (2019 here). While I don’t do the data analysis that Paul does, his past posts did inspire me to use GoodReads and track my own reading. Last year, I read 128 books, most of which were fiction. I lean that way, as a way to escape from the chaos of life. So far this year I’m up to 57, though most of that was my sabbatical and the early pandemic times. Now I’m busy and slowing down the reading.

We’re nearing the end of summer, a time when I’ve usually read less as I’m outdoors more. Perhaps that’s the same for many of you, but it will get cold at some point, and I assume most of you will find free time to enjoy a little reading.

Today I’m wondering if there are books you recommend for people to read in the technology area. What books have you enjoyed that are based around technology?

I ran across a post from Frank Denneman, asking about your favorite tech novel. I’ve read a few on his list, and added a couple others to my list. I also listened to Kendra’s podcast on software development, where she mentions the summer book club from IT Revolution where people are reading The Unicorn Project. I do recommend that one and The Phoenix Project.

Give us a recommendation today if you have one for a novel that you think of when I write “technological thriller.” Fiction or non-fiction.

I’ll leave two here that I enjoyed. Cryptonmicon from Neil Stephenson. It’s an interesting look at encryption and technology. The other one that comes to mind when I think of technology novels is Ready Player One. Maybe because I grew up in the 80s, but the whole idea of learning, living, and working in a computer reality, while still using computers to do things, was very enjoyable. If you saw the movie, read the book. It’s much better.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.