Dundas VIP Bookworms

#1

Welcome to Dundas' virtual Book Club!

After a long day at the office, it's great to kick back, relax and enjoy a good book. Whether its hard-cover, paperback, e-reader, one you've read once, one you've read multiple times, or one you're just starting...

We want to know...

What's the best book you've ever read and why?

Here's mine:

Nexus by: Ramez Naam

A phenomenal story written by a former developer of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook. Imagine a computer that connects directly to your brain. Now imagine this computer was open-source and you could modify, hack and patch it as you wish. Imagine your mind is able to connect with anyone else using 'Nexus'. Nexus is set 20+ years in the future and is action-packed, fast-paced, smart, and more.


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Other’s I’d love to include on my list are:

  • The Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons
  • American Gods - Neil Gaiman
  • The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
#2

Per building dashboards, the best book I've read is "Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring" by Stephen Few. It provides a great overview of general dashboard principles.


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#3

Dr Seuss - Oh, the Places You'll Go!


The inspiring author's last book. Great book to read as a kid, and even as an adult (I won't judge).

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#4

Timeline by Michael Crichton. Always enjoyed the works of Crichton but this one combines science fiction with historical fiction. Good read if you're either a sci fi or a history buff or both.

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#5

For Sales:


Spin Selling


Strategic and Conceptual Selling


Personal:


A history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters. Lord of the Rings!

#6

A few fiction favorites: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and the entire H2G2 series.

Non-fiction (for work): All of Stephen Few's books and Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations by Scott Berinato.

Non-fiction (for pleasure): Anything written by Brian Greene (theoretical physics) and Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.


I know that's more than one "favorite" - I read a lot.

#7

Jordan - I just bought your recommended book - thanks!

#8

You won't regret it Kris! I look forward to talking with you about it.

#9

This is a tough question. If I had to limit my answer to best book I ahve ever read, I would have to choose Shoeless Joe, by W.P Kinsella. Fantastic read, and I can always go back to it and enjoy it every single time. Some other favorites include, Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby, Hoop Dreams, by Ben Joravsky.

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#10

Absolutely! I've given this book as a gift numberous times :)

#11

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll. Why you may ask? Here are some of my favourite bits:


1) “Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.'
I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half- an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."


2) - "Have I gone mad?"

- "I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are.”


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#12

Hard to say what's the best book I ever read, but I really enjoyed Filaria, by Brent Hayward.


Other recommendations:

  • The Martian
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  • Jurassic Park and The Lost World (so much better than the movies)
  • 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know
#13

Great read! It's sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" is also fun! It contains one of the greatest nonsense poems written in the English language called Jabberwocky. An excerpt:


'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

#14

Farrah - This is hysterical. The quotes read like a day in the life of a software support specialist!!

#15

One of my favourite books was Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. I read it in German but it got translated in English I think. I loved it because the most important sense of the main character is the smell. So the book is written more from a smell perspective than from an optical perspective which makes it very interesting to read.

#16

Brian Greene is awesome! Love his documentary work as well.

#17

johnathon Livingston Seagul, great book

#18

Kris, so true :) I feel like I should gift a copy to our Support team here so they can end every support email with a quote!


Nikhil, yes I love that one too but the first will always have a special place on my bookshelf!

#19

If I would choose non-professional books from English authors:

1. George R. R. Martin. A Song of Ice and Fire

2. Jonathan Stroud. Bartimaeus Sequence. I loved it as a kid =)


My favourite books are written by russian author and it's fantasy/comedy by Olga Gromyko:

1. Proffesion: Witch.

2. Loyal Enemies

#20

I loved the Bartimaeus Sequence too :-)