2017 Favorite Books

Not sure how it happened so fast, but all of a sudden we are near the end of 2017. For the first time, I have more non-technical books than purely technical on this list. I am interested to see if this is an outlier, or the beginning of a trend. Tune into my favorite books post next year to find out!

Note: None of the links below are affiliate links. I get nothing from linking to these books. I try to link to the author or publisher site when possible, and Amazon as the default.

Favorite Books 2017

• The Mythical Man Month - The classic book on software engineering and project management. Despite its age, there are still many relevant insights for modern software projects.
• Data Science from Scratch - This book provides an interesting introduction to data science. Instead of starting with specific tools and libraries, it teaches data science fundamentals by having the reader implement them in Python.
• Microservices in .NET Core - This book covers the fundamentals of building microservices and assembling them into complete systems. Examples are built using .NET Core, OWIN and the NancyFX web framework. Definitely worth a look if you are interested in building microservices using the next generation .NET framework.
• Think Like a Data Scientist - This book presents an end-to-end process for applying data science to solve problems. It starts with defining goals and initial analysis, proceeds to the technical stages of development, and ends with final presentation to end users. Perfect for people like me who are comfortable with the technical aspects of data science, but have little experience in the realms of business analysis and presentation.
• The Monuments Men - A history narrative about the men and women who worked to protect and secure the greatest art treasures in the world during World War II. If you liked the movie, the book goes into a lot more detail about the mission of the monuments division.
• Console Wars - This book chronicles the history of the video game history starting in the mid-1980s with the rise of Nintendo and Sega. It is full of behind-the-scenes information and is a really fun read for somebody like me who is a big fan of video games and grew up during this time period.
• Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins - The epic story of the battle between former world chess champion Gary Kasporav and IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue. Kasporav uses his personal experience to discuss the future of artificial intelligence and creativity.