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Quentin Delettre

Reading list

/ 2 min read

Reading has been both a passion and a challenge for me over the years. My bookshelf seems to have accrued a tech debt of its own since 3-4 years, with an increasing number of tantalizing books that I shuffle in my mind, eager to absorb their wisdom but often delaying the pleasure of delving into their pages.

Here is a glimpse of my current struggle.

What

Recently Added/Started:

Career progression

  • Team topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for fast flow by Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais

    A comprehensive guide on optimizing team structures for efficient workflow and productivity.

  • The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Mayer

    An insightful exploration of navigating cultural differences for successful global collaborations.

  • Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track Kindle Edition by Will Larson

    Explores the realms of technical leadership beyond managerial paths, offering invaluable insights for engineering professionals.


Understanding the world & people

Vaclav Smil, one of Bill Gates’ favorite authors, is very prolific on the matter. Please stop

  • Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure by Vaclav Smil
  • How the World Really Works: How Science Can Set Us Straight on Our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil

Tech knowledge

  • Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann

Damn i need to start those…

  • Designing Event-Driven Systems by Ben Stopford
  • Kafka in action by Dylan Scott & Viktor Gamov & Dave Klein

…Still in Progress

Fiction

  • Dune’s cycle by Frank Herbert
  • Brume by Stephen King

Understanding the world & people

  • Growth, from microorganisms to megacities by Vaclav Smil

This one is incredibly informative, to the extent that it’s quite challenging to push through

  • Thinking, fast and slow by Kahneman Daniel
  • Où en sommes-nous ?: Une esquisse de l’histoire humaine by Emmanuel Todd

Would Read Again or in Another Life

All Isac Asimov & Philip K. Dick, some Tom Clancy.

Some data structure books.

How

It would not be complete without discussing the tech stack I use to read (or attempt to read).

  • Kindle Paperwhite 7th generation: A neat little device.
  • Calibre: The go-to software for managing an electronic library and transferring files.