Bookshelf

Good reminder on the why of JavaScript. Ship as little of it as possible, and what you do ship should be resilient. Most performance problems comes on the client due to JavaScript’s expensive processing power. When a page is persistently slow to respond to interactions, it has poor runtime performance. What can you do to improve that?

Good reminder on the importance of having good infrastructure in place.

Nice reminder on what makes life worth living.

Reserve your greatest respect for yourself, because it is what you perceive your self to be that truly determines the quality of life.

One of the A Book Apart’s which I skipped over when it was first released. Shouldn’t have done that. Packed with so much good advice on how to do proper testing and research for your projects.

Probably the best introduction on Stoicism that I’ve read. Well structured, objective, and with good background information on the most important characters in Stoic history. Together with the works of Ryan Holiday, this book makes Stoicism accessible to more people.

To be happy we need something to solve. See your emotions as suggestions, not as commandments. People who become great at something do so because they’re obsessed with improvement. See negative emotions as a necessary component of emotional health.

I like the idea of Frankl’s description of the meaning of life. Man don’t define the meaning of life, but rather life defines the meaning of man. We are being questioned by life on a daily and hourly basis. Our answer, our meaning, lies in our actions and conduct.

Adorable read packed with a multitude of tactics for creating more time in your day. The book is structured around four topics: highlight, focus, energize, and reflect. The highlight is your most important work, so to protect it you need to be able to focus, energize, and reflect on what works and what doesn’t. The book is packaged in a very accessible manner and makes it easy jumping back and forth, to try out different tactics. Very enjoyable to read.

Entertaining introduction to Scrum. Supported by stories from how different companies have implemented the framework. Liked that the author explains the why behind the framework, not just the how, and that he’s doing it in an accessible and easy way. Gave me a more meaningful understanding of how Scrum can be integrated in projects.

Negotiation is nothing more than communication with results. Use tactical empathy and listen to the other part. The way you act is more important than what you say. Use open-ended questions to get the counterpart to solve your problems.

When we surrender the ability to choose, someone or something will step in and choose for us. Think “I choose to” instead of “I have to.” Make decisions by design, rather than by default.

The best book I know on how to handle email.

How can you gather a better, more fact-based perspective? I love how it provides this straightforward toolset for how to think clearly about the world. Very structured, very enjoyable to read.

Austin’s books are lovely. They’re short, packed with amazing value, and got beautiful illustrations.

The hero’s journey is about gathering experience and a history of your own. The artist’s journey is about the self-discovery that comes after. I found it helpful to think about life in different phases like this.

Reserve your greatest respect for yourself, because it is what you perceive your self to be that truly determines the quality of life.

Personal, honest, and beautiful. Derek Sivers shares a couple thoughts on how to run a business.

Run a sprint over a week to address some of your biggest design problems. Should be read by anyone who creates products or services.

Shares a beautiful message on childhood. Having the right people around you, with the support and space you need for growth is so incredibly important. For a while I fell in love with this magical little school in Tokyo.

What happens after death? Each chapter is a different answer to this question. The format was fascinating and let my imagination run wild.

Beautiful book about growing up. Sometimes you think people “have it all”, but you don’t know what’s going on under the facade. Shares some very good life advice. Also interesting plot, but the growth of the characters was the big hit for me.

One of the A Book Apart’s which I skipped over when it was first released. Shouldn’t have done that. Packed with so much good advice on how to do proper testing and research for your projects.

Great introduction to the essentials of content strategy. As with all others in the series it gives you a framework and toolbox for how you can improve your workflow. Very appreciated.

I like these types of essays. It makes me slow down. It gets me into a more natural, reflective state.

Information architecture is a big part of what I do. This book provides a toolset for how to approach that work. Great read.

I didn’t really have a good mental map about the individual components that makes up a system. Until I read this book that is. Enjoyable and informative throughout.

Amazing introduction to the JAMstack approach for modern web development. I like that it weighs different options and explains that there is no “one-fits-all” solution, it really depends on your needs. The case study of Smashing Magazine is stellar!

Started this book thinking there wasn’t enough takeaways in each chapter. That it was random excerpts from peoples lives. But the book grew on me the further in I got. It turned out to be the state of mind it created in me that was the most valuable, not the amount of takeaways I could get.

Oh, how I enjoyed this book! Systemize your decision-making criteria. It turns into a collection of recipes you can use over and over to make decisions. Never mistake opinion for facts. Remember that decision making is a two step process — first learning, and then deciding.

The best book on habit formation that I know. It’s a regular reread every year. This book changed the way I approach building my routine.

Introduced me to the concept of service workers and how to install them. An extra nugget is the way that Jeremy explains JavaScript in general, he takes it down to a level so that I could grasp some of its core concepts in a much deeper way than previously. Bravo!

Great book for getting a grip on what a progressive web app is. Provides guidance and tips on what to keep in mind as you develop a roadmap for your PWA.

Nah. Not that catching. Random excerpts from historical people and how they used solitude to become what they were. The best chapter was the last which gave useful advice for how to find solitude throughout any day.

Very thorough read on the implications of artificial intelligence. Starts out by providing solid terminology about what life and intelligence is, and then asks many questions of what we want out of our future. Amazingly thourough in describing what type of scenarios could be awaiting. What will life be for humans in the age of artifical intelligence?

A wonderful book. Provides an accessible and approachable overview of past philosophies, and shows how they apply better to your life than the harmful self-help-positivity trends we see today. Written in a light and humorous way. Is very strong and enlightening in the middle. So many ‘aha’ moments.

Relaxed and entertaining read. Learned a lot about the peculiarities of the country I’m living in. Every country should have an accessible handbook like this one.

Short book with chapters meant to work as an aid to meditation. Found it a bit hard to get into the text. But I believe it would work great as support during a longer retreat. Is getting much better toward the end.

Entertaining introduction to Scrum. Supported by stories from how different companies have implemented the framework. Liked that the author explains the why behind the framework, not just the how, and that he’s doing it in an accessible and easy way. Gave me a more meaningful understanding of how Scrum can be integrated in projects.

Good advice on how to handle people. In short: don’t criticize, show appreciation, think about what the other person want, don’t tell people they’re wrong. It’s a well structured book with concise chapters. Makes it easy to go back and use it as a reference.

So jam-packed with “obvious” wisdom that I could barely put down my notes app. Many notes for such a short book shows its value for anyone who is designing things with user interaction involved.

Probably the best introduction on Stoicism that I’ve read. Well structured, objective, and with good background information on the most important characters in Stoic history. Together with the works of Ryan Holiday, this book makes Stoicism accessible to more people.

One of my favorite books on the value of focus. To acquire skills for today’s and tomorrow’s information economy requires that we spend our time doing deep work, which is rare and valuable, while avoiding shallow work which is common and dispensable.

Adorable read packed with a multitude of tactics for creating more time in your day. The book is structured around four topics: highlight, focus, energize, and reflect. The highlight is your most important work, so to protect it you need to be able to focus, energize, and reflect on what works and what doesn’t. The book is packaged in a very accessible manner and makes it easy jumping back and forth, to try out different tactics. Very enjoyable to read.

A great introduction on the nature of DNA, and the evolution of species. It was a fascinating insight to find out how digital the genetic system actually is. In essence, we are all survival machines programmed to propagate the digital database which did the programming.

Would strongly recommend this book to anyone struggling with choosing career path. Follow your passion can be bad advice. It’s much more important to get good at something rare and valuable.

Oh, how I enjoyed this book! Systemize your decision-making criteria. It turns into a collection of recipes you can use over and over to make decisions. Never mistake opinion for facts. Remember that decision making is a two step process — first learning, and then deciding.