Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Bookshelf Out of Control


As many of you who frequent my site know, one of the things I pride myself on is trying to be an active reader and learn as much as I can from as many sources as possible. One of the things I enjoy doing is reviewing books that I either purchase or publishers send to me. The problem with many technical books is that, unlike a novel or a non-fiction account of events, these tend to take a while to push through and work on to get the full value. Many books stand on their own and can be read quickly, but most of them take some time (and some of these titles are in Beta, under construction or pending physical release, and therefore their reviews won't go live until they are released).

So what am I reading (and preparing reviews for) in one way, shape or form right now? Glad you asked :). Note, books with an asterisk (*) have priority because these are books I've been recently given to review for free and therefore, I feel an obligation to put them out sooner than others:

Retro (Released a year ago or more):

- bash Cookbook
- Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional
- Everyday Scripting with Ruby
- Firebug 1.5: Editing, Debugging, and Monitoring Web Pages
- Programming Ruby v. 1.9
- Pro JavaScript Design Patterns
- The Secrets of Consulting *- The Manga Guide to Databases *
- The Manga Guide to Physics *
- The Manga Guide to Statistics *
- Wicked Cool Ruby Scripts *

Current:

- CoffeeScript
- Continuous Testing with Ruby, Rails, and JavaScript
- Exceptional Ruby
- Metaprogramming Ruby
- METASPLOIT: The Penetration Tester’s Guide *
- Learn Ruby the Hard Way (in PRACTICUM right now, up to Exercise 34)
- Rails 3 in Action
- Service-Oriented Design With Ruby and Rails
- The Manga Guide to Biochemistry *
- The RSpec Book
- The Tangled Web *


In Beta Format:

- Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby (in Beta, under construction)
- The Cucumber Book (writing finished, sent to production)
- Technical Blogging (in Beta, under construction)


That's 25 books I am actively looking at or ordering to process through. Needless to say, I'm going to be busy for quite awhile (LOL!). It's also probably obvious where the primary focus of my attention is, too. Of course, if there is a "must have" title that I'm not currently looking at, please let me know!

1 comment:

Phil said...

I feel your pain. Just did a count and I have 15 books waiting to be read plus a large bunch on my Amazon Wish List. And there's the bunch of books I'd like to re-read....