<- Usability Must Die All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value. Carl Sagan
Understanding Programmers - The Pride and the Passion
A great way to understand programmers is to listen to their stories.

These seven books will present you with the good, the bad and the ugly stories that will help you to understand programmers even if you don't know your nybbles from your bytes.

They are written by Writers who love Programming, Programmers who love Writing and Scientists who love People.

I have included links to information about the authors as well as displaying their smiling (in most cases) mugs.

Authorship and signing your work is one of the most important indications that this is a piece of work you are proud of, be it a book, a computer program or a collection of pixels on a screen.

It is important to know "who did that" - and it's a much bigger issue than simply "denial of the author's rights".
It is extremely important for makers to know about other makers - and for users to know who made the things they use.
Dust or Magic by Bob Hughes

Signing our work creates a connection between the developer and the user.
The user can see who created the software and how to get in touch with that person.
Software Craftmanship by Pete McBreen
I have given up reading books about web-design because they seem to be getting more patronising and banal by the week.
I would much rather read something that the author had put a bit of themselves into, rather than getting the impression that they knock out a new one every three months.

At least this book is honest about itself !


This selection below are all books that I have read more than once, and take pride of place on my groaning bookshelves.
Dust Or Magic Bob Hughes
Discover some tales of the peoples  history of the computer revolution.
Sample Chapter
 This is Bobs library card picture. 'They who have put out the people's eyes reproach them for their blindness.' John Milton - 1641 ('Animadversions')
Amazon

I Sing the Body Electronic - A Year with Microsoft on the Multimedia Frontier Fred Moody
A fly on the wall view of a multi-media project in Microsoft.
 I know that USB port is around here somewhere
Amazon

Mythical Man Month Fred Brooks
The classic work updated with new chapters, including a section titled 'Parnas Was Right, and I Was Wrong about Information Hiding'.
Nice to see that Fred is human too!
 We get a year older one day at a time
Amazon

Software Craftmanship - The New Imperative Pete McBreen
Programming is a craft. This book examines the craft of programming, and how we need to learn lessons from the past, if we are not going to continue making the same old mistakes again and again and again....
"If Software development is not fun, there is something wrong with the process".

Sample Chapter [pdf]
 I knew this Hungarian passport photo would come in handy
Amazon

Show-Stopper! G Pascal Zachary
The story of NT and the personalities involved. An intriguing story about when Old School Programmers met the Microsofties, and what they learnt from each other.
 Only one more day of balancing this sloth on my head and ill get the record
Amazon

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out Richard P Feynman
This man turned me onto science, by putting the fizz into physics and the humanity back into science..
 See, I told you I'm not pissed (or drunk for US readers)
Amazon

Soul Of A New Machine Tracy Kidder
The original tale of real people, doing real work in the computer industry.
 I think black and white suits me quite well
Amazon
Author: Chris McEvoy