Humor
- Changing Lenses: a life-altering introduction to Restorative Justice.
- Weapons of Math Destruction: this book about big data misuse was a great resource for my talk on big data security (Security Thinking for Big Data).
- Conflict is not Abuse:Â A nuanced, challenging, imperfect, and incredibly important book about how we respond to conflict, and how trauma- and supremacy-based anxieties affect those responses.
- How to Win Friends and Influence People: classic advice, though some of the examples havenât aged well.
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: introduces them well with a story, ends with a good reference to the ideas.
- Reviving Old Scratch: Richard Beck of Experimental Theology addresses the tendency towards secular humanism within progressive theology.
- The No Asshole Rule: good advice for how to prevent (or deal with) bad workplaces.
- Getting to âYesâ: classic negotiation advice.
- Utopia of Rules: a philosophical exploration of our relationship with bureaucracy.
- Irresistible Revolution: an autohagiography of radical christian experiments. For a heroic everyday method for Christian living, see: Stranger God.
- The Dispossessed:Â This is a wonderful take on sci-fi that explores work, societies, and beliefs. Our means are our ends.
- The Name of the Wind and The Wise Manâs Fear: beautiful bardic fantasy. (These were re-reads)
- The Seventh Princess: Iâm amazed this fantasy book for children isnât still in publication.
- Fight Club: strange writing style, but better than the movie. Really good, assuming you read both the problems and âsolutions" as satire.
- Warbreaker: this is my favorite Cosmere/Sanderson book. (This was a re-read)
- Slaughterhouse Five: so it goes, but it doesnât have to.
- The Handmaidâs Tale: maybe this time a dystopian work will warn us off?
- The Rise and Fall of DODO: almost as good as Anathem.
- The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance: The Stormlight Archive take a long time to get going, but end up being worth it. If youâre reading Stormlight Archive and missed the novella, get lifted up by this bit of awesome: Edgedancer.
- The Butcher of Anderson Station: read this novella after the first Expanse book.
- Dragonsong: this was my first Pern experience, and it was really good.
đ 2017 Book Recommendations
Goodreads made this list from my reading, but here are my direct recommendations:
Non-fiction:
Fiction:
What are your recommendations?
So, we've been using Houzz to check out ideas and such. My spouse is checking over the things I save:
"I figured something out. You don't like walls: you like windows."
Courtesy of my sister-in-law: How Many Times Does Braid-Tugging and Skirt-Smoothing Happen in The Wheel of Time?
We played modified two-player EPYC (telephone pictionary) tonight. Here are some of the gems.
Found him!
Your cafĂŠ sounds disgusting.
Spouse:
In this morning’s Songs with Doggies segment, we incorporate Siku and Gidget into “Wherever I May Roam” with extra Hetfield-esque declarations of “Yeah” and “No.” Yeah-eh-yeah-eeeeh!
Ridiculous thing Todd said, today: "deer printsâ
Note for posterity: this was while we were looking for a water property.