Beautiful Code and Stardust

Beautiful Code is kind of like Founders at Work, except about programming instead of starting companies. This book, edited by Andy Oram and Greg Wilson, is a little hit or miss. Some of the essays are quite engaging and interesting, while others are dull and not particularly informative. Overall, it was a worthwhile read, and while it's not a book of patterns to be strictly applied while coding, there were definitely lessons that I'll remember as I work on future projects.

Stardust was a lot of fun to watch. It was sappy, and funny, and thoroughly entertaining. It's based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, which I haven't read, so I can't gauge how true to the book the movie is. I've really enjoyed what little of Gaiman's work I've read (and Mirrormask too), so I really need to sit down and read more of his novels.

Imagining MIT and Peopleware

As an alum, I found Imagining MIT to be a very interesting book. It starts out with a short history of the MIT campus in Cambridge, the origins of the Infinite Corridor, and the evolution of the campus through the war years and the cold war. Then it got to the part that affected me as a recent alum, who had seen the newer buildings getting built: the Zesiger center, Simmons, Stata, the Brain and Cog building, and the proposed Media Lab expansion. Each chapter provided insight into some of the reasoning behind each building, including not just the architectural design, but university and local politics, funding hurdles, and special site considerations. I have to admit, I still consider Simmons and Stata to be somewhat eyesores, but I understand more what the architects were trying to do, and what their constraints where. This still doesn't stop me from disagreeing with some of their decisions though. The book reinforced my appreciation for the Z-center and the Brain and Cog building, and opened my eyes to the design of some bits of campus that I walked through regularly but did not particularly think much about.

Peopleware is an awesome book that should be required reading for anyone that wants to or is managing or leading knowledge workers. From physical space selection, to project timelines, and especially to getting a team to mesh together, this book has so much goodness in it that I barely know where to start. It's a short book, so instead of trying to recap it, I'll just say: read it.