My Reading List

A curated list of books I've read or plan to read. These have directly influenced how I think about system design, team dynamics, and building better software.

Currently Reading

• Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann - The definitive guide to distributed systems, replication, partitioning, and transactions. Most of my distributed systems blog posts are notes from this book.
• Actionable Gamification by Yu-kai Chou - Framework for understanding motivation and engagement beyond superficial points/badges.

Already Read

• The Well-Grounded Rubyist by David A. Black & Joseph Leo - Deep understanding of Ruby's object model, blocks, procs, and metaprogramming. Essential for anyone writing Ruby professionally.
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr. Robert B. Cialdini - Six principles of persuasion that apply to everything from product design to negotiation.
• The Speed of Trust by Stephen R. Covey - How trust impacts team velocity and organizational effectiveness.
• Refactoring UI by Steve Schoger & Adam Wathan - Practical UI design tips for developers. Changed how I approach frontend work.
• Ikigai - The Japanese philosophy of finding purpose at the intersection of passion, skill, demand, and livelihood.
• Clean Code by Robert C. Martin - The classic on writing readable, maintainable code.
• Getting Things Done by David Allen - Productivity system for managing complex projects without losing track.

On My List

• Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble & David Farley - CI/CD pipelines, deployment strategies, and release engineering.
• Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman - Design patterns explained through visual, engaging examples.