Finished reading: The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec đź“šA fun read, mild magic fantasy set in pre-1000 AD Norway.
Currently reading: The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland đź“šI’m only a little way into this and am already impressed by how good it is. The author is losing his vision and has many interesting things to say.
Finished reading: Learning Korean: Recipes for Home Cooking by Peter Serpico đź“šSaying again how much I love this new cookbook on how to do Korean home cooking.
Currently reading: The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec đź“š
Finished reading: Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici đź“šSo thought-provoking. Not being a Marxist scholar myself, I had to catch up to even understand the concept of Primitive Accumulation, but overall this is an excellent and interesting read.
Finished reading: The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman đź“šI didn’t love it. There’s an odd plot involving sex with Nathaniel Hawthorne. There’s a bunch of heavy-handed opinion masquerading as dialogue. Overall, not as magical as other of her books.
Finished reading: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh đź“šinteresting! Slightly feminist anti-fascist space opera with time slips.
Currently reading: The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman đź“š
Currently reading: Women Talking by Miriam Toews đź“š
Currently reading: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh đź“š
Finished reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers đź“šSuch a sweet book! Becky Chambers is so good at writing these thought-provoking books that go down like a spoonful of honey. A nice tale of robot-human friendship, and what happens a hundred years after the robots gain sentience.
Finished reading: The Ferryman by Justin Cronin đź“šYeah, a good read. Science fiction, dystopian future, some good characters, and a satisfying twist at the end. Weirdly, about 14 epilogues but I’ll forgive that.
7 business books that have influenced me
- The Epic Guide to Agile by Dave Todaro
Unlike most books about Agile and Scrum, this one gets into the technical details of how great Agile software development teams get their work done.
- eXtreme Project Management by Doug DeCarlo
Written in 2004, this book blew my mind when I read it as a young PMP struggling with Gantt charts and project management paperwork. It put me on the path to understanding the ways in which high-uncertainty projects are different and therefore need something other than strict Waterfall methods.
- Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
This book was so useful as I embarked on my Agile journey 15 years ago. Their hands-on, practical advice about specific retrospective activities and when to use them was a game changer for me.
- Manage Your Project Portfolio by Johanna Rothman
It was hard for me to limit Johanna Rothman to only one book on this list, I so value all of her writing. I have used this book in my teaching of Agile for the past 8 years because I find that most students do not understand the importance of limiting the organization’s project portfolio to the few, most important projects. Do less to do more.
- Thiagi’s 100 Favorite Games by Dr. Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan
I was lucky enough to meet Thiagi about twenty years ago as I began teaching project management at the graduate level. His concepts about games that enhance learning are so powerful. If you do any type of teaching or training, you need this book.
- Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making by Sam Kaner
Back when I worked at Hewlett-Packard, I took a Meeting Facilitation class from Sam Kaner. From him, I learned that meetings can be a good use of time! But that only happens when the facilitator puts effort into structuring a great meeting. This book has so much practical advice about how to help teams actually make decisions, instead of just talking around the decision endlessly.
Remember, knowledge is power, and the wisdom found within these pages can be the catalyst for your future success. Happy reading!
Currently reading: Learning Korean: Recipes for Home Cooking by Peter Serpico đź“šNormally, I wouldn’t post a cookbook as something I’m currently reading but if you’ve ever wanted to learn how to cook good Korean home food, it’s great. Easy to follow, somewhat Americanized, and everything is delicious.
Finished reading: Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Trilogy Book 1) by Tamsyn Muir đź“šI haven’t decided whether I’ll go on with this series. Probably too much gratuitous gore for me.
Currently reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers đź“š
Many long-covid symptoms linger even after two years, new study shows or 3.5 years, like my brother.
The Most Important Question About Long COVID | Harvard Medical School
Currently reading: The Ferryman by Justin Cronin đź“š
Finished reading: A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey đź“šIt’s set in Santa Cruz, CA, where I lived in the 1980s, but ultimately is just a romance novel. Though it is unintentionally thought-provoking about incarceration and the difference that white privilege makes.
Finished reading: The Last Palace by Norman Eisen 📚interesting book about Prague and Czech history from the POV of Obama’s ambassador who is also the son of a Czech refugee.
Currently reading: A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey đź“š
Finished reading: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 📚it’s ok. The best character is the dog.
Review of Shokz OpenComm2 wireless headset - nice to have my ears free
I really like this wireless bone conduction headset. It’s wonderful not having something covering or in my ears. I feel so much more connected to the outside world.
I also like that the headset connects to my Mac and my iPhone and I can make or answer calls on either device without any need for explicit switching. It just works.
The audio quality for listening is good, though I wouldn’t use it for music.
The noise-canceling part of the microphone is amazing. I get lots of road noise in my office during the summer when my windows are open, and with this headset, no one can hear it. The quality of the microphone sound is good, though not as good as using a standalone wired microphone. I’ll use the Shokz for video conferences and Skype calls, and use my real microphone when recording videos.