Welcome to the 2021 Opensource.com summer time studying checklist. This yr’s checklist accommodates eight fantastic e book suggestions from members of the Opensource.com group. From classics like Frank Herbert’s Dune and a brand new translation of Beowulf to non-fiction books concerning the historical past of tech trade tradition, this checklist has books for readers with completely different tastes and pursuits.
Each advice supplies priceless perception into why the one who really useful the e book thinks it’s price studying. As at all times, the e book choices and opinions shared by my friends are insightful and galvanizing. I at all times be taught a lot from what they share, and I at all times get pleasure from seeing what new and attention-grabbing books I’ll invariably add to my “to read” checklist. I hope that additionally, you will discover one thing so as to add to your “to read” pile.
Enjoy!
by Maria Dahvana Headley (advice written by Kevin Sonney)
From the primary line, this is not the identical “Beowulf” you slogged via in grade faculty.
Bro! Tell me we nonetheless know the best way to communicate of kings!
Before I fell into the IT discipline, I used to be an English main with a deep, abiding love of Beowulf. It could be tough to learn, and (at the least right here within the United States) it’s required studying in highschool, however many individuals keep in mind it as a boring learn the place the language and construction get in the way in which of the story. In this translation, Headley places the story first whereas sustaining a contemporary translation that’s correct in construction and which means with the unique textual content. From the opening “Bro!” to the occasional (and acceptable!) vulgarity, to the outline of the “Hashtag: Blessed” Queen, readers will discover themselves hanging on each line to search out out what occurs subsequent. Headley’s translation, greater than another, can be a pleasure to learn out loud, simply because it was for the bards who instructed it within the mead halls and longhouses of way back.
This is a well-researched, well-written, and most significantly, participating translation of one of the vital vital historic works of English literature. Headley makes Beowulf FUN to learn, and the reader will get immersed within the story, identical to the listeners did over their drinks and meals way back.
by Michael A. Cusumano and David B. Yoffie (advice written by Gaurav Kamathe)
If you might be studying this proper now, likelihood is you might be utilizing an online browser. In truth, if you happen to use a pc right this moment in any kind, are you able to think about computing with no net browser? We spend the vast majority of time in it right this moment—doing work, connecting with mates, browsing the online, watching films, taking part in music, discovering instructions, ordering meals, and so on. Sure, apps have changed a few of these capabilities on cell units; nonetheless, the browser has in some ways change into the working system in terms of the web and the online.
There was a time when the online was taking root, and browsers weren’t mainstream. Few individuals may have imagined the potential of the online and the impression it could have on humankind. The browser is what made the online actually accessible to all people, past simply the technically savvy. If you might be interested by what went into growing this thrilling expertise, the corporate that created it, and the battles it needed to combat alongside the way in which towards a mighty adversary, properly, then hold studying.
Competing on Internet Time traces occasions between the years 1994 and 1998. It principally revolves round two corporations: Netscape (right this moment often called Mozilla), then a brand new, up and coming startup with a radical new product (the online browser) that got here out of nowhere and grew quickly to seize 90% of the browser market, and Microsoft, a widely known big (even then) recognized for its dominance within the working system market. The authors interviewed many key figures at each corporations and supplied their evaluation of the occasions that transpired. This e book is an attention-grabbing learn from each a expertise and a enterprise standpoint. It goes in-depth on enterprise technique, decision-making, the advantages of pace, expertise alternative, and, extra importantly, the tradition of those two numerous organizations.
One key takeaway from the e book is how Netscape actually embraced and utilized the web as a aggressive benefit at a time when different corporations, together with Microsoft, had ignored it for too lengthy. Another takeaway is that Netscape, being the smaller of the 2, had the benefit of flexibility, permitting it to introduce new merchandise quickly. A 3rd lesson is how Microsoft totally utilized its working system-market monopoly to beat Netscape at its browser sport. Netscape tried to counter this by turning into a champion of cross-platform expertise and introducing and pushing open requirements to maintain Microsoft on its again foot. In the face of stiff competitors, Netscape turned its enterprise technique and went from being only a browser firm and made forays into intranet, extranet, and enterprise software program markets, finally dropping this battle. All of this and extra occurred in a span of simply 4 (web) years.
by Frank Herbert (advice written by Matthew Broberg)
My first evaluate of Dune was that it was an ingenious, strong learn. That was not received well by mates on Twitter. On reflection, I do not assume that evaluation does it justice. Dune is an exceptionally influential piece of artwork from the mid-1960s that interweaves futuristic cultures, empires, and religions. It additionally performs with timelines. Every chapter weaves the long run in as the current unfolds. The layers of foreshadowing whereas the world of Arrakis comes into focus are a pleasure to learn.
I’ve since completed the second e book within the sequence and plan to go on to the third. This world is huge, considerate, and feels as fashionable as it’s timeless.
by Christina Dunbar-Hester (advice written by Bryan Behrenshausen)
What motivates this essential anthropology of open supply expertise communities is not the query: Why aren’t open supply communities extra numerous? and even How can we contain extra underrepresented minorities in open supply? Instead, Dunbar-Hester seeks solutions to a extra complicated query: How do the methods open supply communities talk about range and inclusion inadvertently constrain their capability to make these communities extra inclusive and numerous?
By embedding herself inside varied open expertise communities—visiting their makerspaces, attending their meetups, listening at their conferences—Dunbar-Hester gives quite a few insights that assist readers perceive how well-meaning and good-faith range, fairness, and inclusion initiatives may produce outcomes antithetical to their very own aspirations. If you are in any respect fascinated about making open supply communities extra welcoming and inclusive, you may need to learn this e book.
by Dan Moore (advice written by Joshua Allen Holm)
If you discovered your self getting into (or re-entering) the job market over the last yr, you discovered that a lot of the normal mentoring construction for beginning a brand new job was severely disrupted. It is more durable to get strong profession recommendation when meetups and conferences are digital, so, instead, I recommend studying Letters to a New Developer: What I Wish I Had Known When Starting My Development Career.
The e book is split into 10 chapters, masking Your First Month, Questions, Writing, Tools to Learn, Practices, Understanding the Business, Learning, Mistakes, Your Career, and Community. Each chapter begins with a short introduction adopted by a sequence of letters addressed to the reader concerning the chapter’s topic. The letters are all attention-grabbing and interesting to learn.
Having virtually your complete e book in epistolary format makes this e book really feel extra private than different profession steerage books. After a yr of being disconnected due to COVID-19, the human contact of the letter-based method makes this e book a pleasure to learn. No e book, not even one as wonderful as Letters to a New Developer, can change a number of good human mentors who can alter their recommendation to particular circumstances, however this can be a strong various to having prepared entry to a mentor within the subsequent cubicle.
I extremely advocate selecting up a replica, even when you don’t assume you want profession recommendation. There are many insightful issues in Letters to a New Developer that will profit even somebody well-established of their profession.
by Cassandra Khaw (advice written by Kevin Sonney)
Release date: September 7, 2021; evaluate based mostly on an advance evaluate copy
Khaw, writer of the Lovecraftian Hammers on Bone and the hilarious and visceral Rupert Wong: Canibal Chef sequence, brings her distinctive type to a far-future area cyberpunk thriller. In The All-Consuming World, a band of criminals comes out of retirement to return to the legendary planet that when virtually destroyed them. Khaw excels at writing sensible, messy characters whose flaws are their biggest strengths. At instances visceral and profane, Khaw builds a posh universe with complicated individuals, the place these individuals could be synthetic intelligences, rogue hackers, cyborgs, clones, closely modified people, and extra.
The All-Consuming World is a quick, violent, and complicated trip from the opening heist onward. Khaw provides her voice to the superb array of latest fashionable cyberpunk authors together with her distinctive mixture of fashion, wit, and mayhem. This e book might not be for everybody, however I loved the heck out of it.
by Alex Bellos (advice written by Joshua Allen Holm)
Are you a phrase nerd? Do you like puzzles? If the reply to each these questions is “yes,” then The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book is the e book for you. This e book explores attention-grabbing info about language via a sequence of puzzles and anecdotes.
Each of the e book’s 10 chapters covers completely different features of language like numbers and familial relations. You will discover puzzles about historical languages, like Babylonian and Egyptian, fashionable languages, and even constructed languages like Dothraki. Each puzzle is a mind teaser that makes you concentrate on how languages work. The puzzles range in problem, however every presents an attention-grabbing problem for the reader to resolve.
A e book stuffed with complicated puzzles about languages definitely has a distinct segment viewers; nonetheless, the anecdotes contained inside are attention-grabbing sufficient to make The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book one thing satisfying even to a reader not fascinated about fixing the puzzles for themselves. Solving the puzzles may be very a lot the purpose of the e book, however the info within the e book continues to be fascinating and informative, even to readers who don’t need to problem themselves with puzzle fixing.
You can watch Alex Bellos’ talk at the Royal Institution for a preview of the puzzles and anecdotes contained in The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book.
This evaluate was based mostly on the UK version of The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book. A US edition with the title The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book: Perple_ing Le_ical Patterns to Unmi_ and Ve_ing Synta_ to Outfo_ is due out in November and accessible now for preorder.
by Brian W. Kernighan (advice written by Jim Hall)
I beloved studying Understanding the Digital World. While it is listed as a textbook on Amazon, I did not discover it an “academic” textual content. It’s virtually an off-the-cuff introduction to expertise, from primary concepts comparable to “what is a computer” and “analog versus digital” to extra superior matters together with cell units, web communication, synthetic intelligence, and cryptography.
Kernighan introduces every matter in a conversational approach, so you do not really feel such as you’re stepping as much as a extra superior matter. Rather, it is a pure development or move from one matter to the subsequent.
I particularly appreciated his demonstration of the Toy Computer, a hypothetical laptop mannequin you possibly can experiment with in an online browser. With the Toy, Kernighan explains the basics of Assembly programming with out getting misplaced within the particulars of macro meeting and particular registers. I discovered this an approachable strategy to talk about the subject.
I additionally appreciated Kernighan’s dialogue about working methods additional into the e book. Kernighan explains this technical idea in clear phrases, breaking down the parts into simply understood sections.
Understanding the Digital World would make a terrific present for anybody fascinated about expertise at virtually any age degree.
Not seeing one thing that piques your curiosity? Check out our earlier lists for extra options: