What are you reading?

Finished To Engineer is Human. If you like engineering failures and analysis, read the last half of this short book. It’s a good summary of engineer-y FMEA analysis kind of thinking.

50 pages into “Creative Change” by Jennifer Mueller.

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When I try to draw well, I draw like a Manga artist. It’s really annoying.

Just finished, “Creative Change” by Jennifer Mueller. I feel like this and “The Innovator’s Dilemma” should be required reading for all designers.

“Creative Change” discusses the bias that most people have against creative ideas and how this bias is magnified in business decision making. It also discusses how to open up to creative change through self-change, pitch ideas in ways that will reduce the bias, manage projects more effectively and ultimately change the culture of business to be more open to creative change.

It made me feel not so all alone. There were at least 5 situations that the author describes that could have been taken from my career. No wonder I’m so grumpy!

@Architorture, that book (Let my people go surfing) is on my list!

I’ve been on a sci-fi binge lately, read Ender’s Game, Ready Player One and The Circle. Highly recommend The Circle, if you’re into sci-fi and also if you’re a big fan of The Black Mirror episodes on Netflix.
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Just finished a world tour for work which included 60 hours of flying over the last 3 weeks. So I finished reading a few books.

-Who Moved My Cheese
-Good to Great
-Creative Inc.
-Shoe Dog

Been reading a lot of business books lately trying to get my business chops up.

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Finally read Fahrenheit 451. I loved it. It feels more pertinent today than ever. I also love that Bradbury kind of predicted reality television. Incredible foresight.

great book! Up there with 1984.

Also, caught this new anniversary book cover in the store this weekend. Love the illustration.

I really want to know what the fireman’s salamander logo would look like. I’m surprised that’s not on the cover.

I’ve read the trifecta of dystopian novels: Brave New World, 1984 and now F 451. I think F 451 is the best of the three. It’s a page turner, which the second half of 1984 is not. There is a certain literary quality to the writing, which BNW gets a little amateurish at times. Last, I felt like the plot was solid through out, where BNW and 1984 feel like they run out of steam at the end. It’s as though Huxley and Orwell were having so much fun describing their worlds that they forgot they had to end the stories. F451 feels like it was heading towards the ending the whole way through.

the book that turns into the matchbook is a way better cover illustration than the salamander logo Ray! :slight_smile:

I agree that’s a better cover, but I still want to know what it would look like!

I’m half way through “Critical Chain” by Eliyahu Goldratt. It’s written as a novel rather than case studies or theory. It’s a more pleasurable way to learn. However, I’m still not sure how to apply anything yet.

On the downside, even though the female characters in the book are probably the smartest ones, the way he writes them feels sexist. For example, they are the only characters in the book that he describes physically. Having said that, the book is 20 years old.

I am reading this book about Steve Jobs. Quite interesting life and destiny of a genious person. To my surprise it’s an easy read.

I am reafing “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown.
The best thing about the book is that it maintains the tempo throughout the storyline and keeps you engaged, unlike other books you do not loose interest at one chapter end and it moves towards culmination at about 3/4th the read.
Must read and i’ll also suggest you read other book by the author.
If someone interested, here is a critical Analysis of it:

By the way, does anyone here prefer ereaders? Which one would you recommend?

This is supposed to be a good book:

“Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less” by Sam Carpenter

Has anyone read it?

https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength/dp/0143122231

Trying to find the will to read this again, and finish it this time. Here is the summary: willpower = glucose levels in the brain. Before doing something mentally taxing, drink some lemonade.

I bought it for kindle and regret it. I need spatial, tangible locations and progress through a book.

my morning favorite.

LOL, Chevis for the win!

I just finished The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. Very strange premise. It read something between an alien encounter and an arctic travel log.

Finished Critical Chain. Now I understand how to apply the principles to multiple projects. I wish I worked in an environment where critical chain was robustly utilized to see how well it stands up in reality. It sure fit my common sense of project management though.

One of the most satisfying parts was when a character advises someone to give a price cap and lead time cap in a request for quote. I’ve done that before with great success, but so many business people have told me not to. They believe if you give a cap, people will just quote slightly below the cap. My experience is that some suppliers will still quote lower if they can, but the noncompetitive ones will appreciate the way out you give them. Also, negotiating lead time is a great idea that I see seldom used. Often people try to make up lost time in shipping that could have been bought in tooling lead time for a fraction the cost.