BUGS in Writing

Subtitled "A Guide to Debugging Your Prose", this outstanding book addresses all those tricky writing areas that can make us stumble. Dupré gives examples of Bad, Ugly, Good, and Splendid prose.

There's just one mistake in the book: she still thinks "data are". Even Homer sometimes nods. It's time to give up on that one, Latin buffs.

FrameMaker 5.5.6 for DUMMIES

When I called Adobe for help with a FrameMaker problem, the tech support person asked me if I had this book, adding "All us tech support people keep a copy on our desks". 'Nuff said.

If you have to use Frame, bless you. And buy this book.

The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide :
The Essential Companion for Filmmakers and Festival-Goers

An irreverent and information-packed guide for those who enter or attend film festivals. Gore is publisher of Film Threat Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of the All-Movies Guide. If you're a film buff or festival buff, check this one out!

The Transparent Society : Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?

Brin offers an exciting and possibly practical answer to the increasing threats to privacy. He suggests that there is no turning back the technology clock, and that instead we must learn to embrace the loss of privacy, increasing personal freedom by ensuring that the technology and its fruits be available to us all. Highly recommended!

Machine Beauty : Elegance and the Heart of Computing (Master Minds Series)

Gelernter writes a delightful little book based on the premise that our work (software) can, and should be beautiful.

Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience

"You have heard about how a musician loses herself in her music, how a painter becomes one with the process of painting. In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is "flow," an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding. "

You may have experienced flow when programming.  XP is a set of practices that can help you get into flow, and enjoy the experience of programming, more than ever before.   I enjoyed reading this book: it encouraged me to redouble my efforts to work in a way that gives pleasure at every turn.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:
Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Mr Covey is a lot more saintly than I am, and parts of his books are a bit cloying.  The basic lessons on time management and setting priorities are very valuable.  I try to practice them, I really do ...

Writing Down the Bones : Freeing the Writer Within

This is a nice little book for the aspiring writer who can't seem to get started.  It includes exercises, hints on how to make time for writing, and so on.  And it isn't long enough to serve as a really good excuse not to write.

Gifts Differing : Understanding Personality Type

"Describing the 16 major personality types identified in the work of Briggs and Myers, this landmark book shows the profound effects--on marriage, learning and career satisfaction--of a person's style of perception and judgment."

If you ever wondered why those sales guys or entrepreneur types act the way they do, this book gives an interesting and understandable model of the dimensions that make up personality.