Category: Books

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Books

Planet Google

Planet GoogleI decided to give non-fiction a chance with my last read. Planet Google turned out to be really interesting. It detailed the history of Google, which as a web developer is something I follow closely to begin with.

The early years were really interesting to me. With the emphasis on the algorithm throughout very cool. The chapter on the YouTube acquisition and the failure of Google Video was cool. I’d almost completely forgotten about their early video efforts. WIth all their amazing success, it’s easy to forgot some of their flops (such as social media, Wave, etc.).

Some of the early chapters were massive and the book did get off to a slow start, but I stuck with it and it did pick up and am glad that it did. Heads up, this was published in 2008 so much of their hottest properties such as Android and Chrome aren’t yet mentioned.

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Star Wars Fate of the Jedi Outcast

Star Wars Fate of the Jedi OutcastI’m still on my library reading tear, and the second book I’ve conquered has been Outcast. All those hours of watching Lavar Burton on Reading Rainbow is finally paying off (except for that goat episode, that was just plain scary). It’s the first Star Wars book in the Fate of the Jedi series.

The story takes place 40 years or so after episode IV, so a lot of the standard characters are prominent with a lot of new characters that I wasn’t familiar with as well. While I’m still very much bummed that Chewbacca was killed off previous to this book, I still decided to give this a shot.

Things started off a bit slow for me, but that also may’ve been that so many of the characters were new to me. Much of the early story was politics driven, and I suppose I was expecting more lighsabers and blasters. But the slow start did setup the story a good deal, and this is a 9 book series so it does make sense.

I was glad that Lando and Wedge Antilles both had roles in this book. I always liked the side characters, and was glad to see they’re still around. I expect to read this entire series now, pretty sure 7 of the 9 are already out with the remaining 2 due out pretty soon.

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Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil

A few weeks back I was determined to make use of a public library. I’ve been buying a lot of books and since I rarely read them twice, why not just borrow one for free. Plus I feel kinda smart and wise if I walk into a library every now and then.

I got a few suggestions from NGM on some good reads, but when I got to the library I got a little intimidated. Books seemed to be everywhere and they were all hardcover, and I’ve only been exposed to softcover books for the longest time.

Sadly they didn’t have what NGM had recommended, and I couldn’t recall the titles of some others as well. So in a bit of panic I grabbed a Star Wars book. It just seemed safe to me, so my decision was made.

It was a pretty solid read. The events take place right before Episode III, which was really cool. It gave characters who didn’t get much screen time in the film a time to shine. I was especially glad to learn more about General Grievous and Count Dooku. It was nice to see just how mean and feared they were to the Jedi and not some clumsy cowards who die a few minutes into the film.

If you’re into the whole Star Wars thing, then I’d recommend this highly. Very good read, with the last few chapters being the most exciting.

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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest JourneyI just finished reading The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. Back on President’s Day I mentioned that my favorite president was Theodore Roosevelt, since the guy finished a speech after being shot in the chest. They just don’t make guys that tough anymore. So my co-worker was kind enough to share this book about his journey down the Amazon River with me.

I really didn’t know much more about Roosevelt besides what I’d learned back in 7th grade history and a few web articles detailing his toughness. Early on in the read, you get a pretty clear picture of just how crazy he and people in general were way back then. I don’t know many if any people who would take nearly the risks that they would take on a daily basis back then.

A 55 year old ex-president taking a several months long journey down an uncharted river in the heart of the unexplored Amazon is just plain stupid by today’s standards, but the desire to explore at the time was really impressive. It really made me feel like a lazy person to hear of all of their accomplishments and feats.

I doubt many of us would survive 2 days without a cell phone, let alone suffer of dysentery and fighting off 103 degree malaria induced fevers while traveling down raging rapids in an undeveloped part of the world. Oh and there’s venomous creatures all around and natives who kill for fun in the area too. Again, these guys were crazy.

Event though I knew that everyone in the story had to of died by now, it was still very sad to hear of each of their respective death’s in the epilogue. It was most sad to hear of Kermit, Roosevelt’s sons death. This was a pretty solid read, and I’m glad that it was recommended to me.

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Books

Foundation Drupal 7

Foundation Drupal 7I’ve been reading up on any and all documentation since I’m in the process of moving a very large site over to Drupal 7. I picked up a copy of Foundation Drupal 7 in hopes of getting a better understanding of what is new in 7 and pick up a few tricks along the way.

I find The Friends of Ed books tend to be geared more towards the designer than the developer, and in this case I am initially approaching the Drupal 7 in terms of our site content owners and less a deep technical understanding. In that regard the book was pretty solid.

The author does a fine job of explaining content types and fields and when to use them. He also goes over what the core modules do and how to configure them as well as briefly mentioning some very useful contributed modules.

While I can’t say I learned much that wasn’t already available in the online Drupal documentation, reading and following along with the examples in the book did help me understand some of the new features in 7.

There were times I wish the author would go into more detail regarding configuring a certain module or working with a content type, I do understand that this book was aimed more towards a beginner and not so much a web developer.

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Books

Pro Drupal Development Second Edition

Pro Drupal DevelopmentI’ve been in the process of deciding whether or not to move atlantic.edu over to Drupal. While the online documentation and the various online sources of info are pretty solid, I really was looking for a concise resource that is aimed more towards the intermediate or advanced PHP developer.

Pro Dupal Development Second Edition has really been a great read for what I was looking for. It does an excellent job of breaking down the various modules, hooks, themes, nodes, blocks, etc. of Drupal. Drupal is very powerful, but at times I find it’s learning curve can be a bit on the steep side. This book really does an excellent job of explaining things from a developers perspective.

The Second Edition covers Drupal 6, which is what I will most likely initially be running. There is a Third Edition due out around this time that will cover Drupal 7 if that’s of more interest (and something I’ll probably end up getting eventually too).