ChrisMatts

I am at home wherever I have a book.

Found my way here on the recommendation of DaveHoover from a comment on my Blog http://abc.truemesh.com/.

I generally suffers from a bad case of Butterfly Mind, flit from topic to topic. My book buyings often exceed my enthusiasms.

I tend to have several books 'on the go' at once. And I have a bad Amazon habit leading to a huge backlog. I'm also a huge fan of my local library. My book buying habit now takes the form of checking out a chapter of the book using the search inside feature at amazon.com. Then if I like it, I order it on line from my local library. If I cannot get it at the library or I like it lots and lots I buy a copy.

Agile Development Conference Recommendations

These are the books recommended to me by friends at the Agile Development Conference. It will take me a few days to put the full list up. The form my 'to be' book stack.

• WorkOrientedDesignOfComputerArtifacts, PelleEhn? (out of print)
• TheReflectivePractitioner, DonaldSchon?
• FirstBreakAllTheRules, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
• NowDiscoverYourStrengths?, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
• ManagingTheDesignFactory, DonaldReinertsen
• InevitableIllusions?, MassimoPiatelli?
• TheMeaningOfMeaning?, Ogden
• ThrowingTheElephant?, StanlyBing?
• Influence, RobertCialdini?
• MyVoiceWillGoWithYou?, MiltonErickson?
• InevitableSurprises?, PeterSchwartz?
• TwoCultures?, CPSnow
• Working?, StudsTerkel?
• ConsultativeSelling?, Mack Hanan
• SpinSelling?, Neil Rackham
• TheFacilitative? Way, Priscilla Wilson
• SecretsOfConsulting, Gerry Weinberg
• BecomingATechnicalLeader, Gerry Weinberg
• NewPeoplemaking?, Virginia Satir
• UserStories?, Mike Cohn
• SkilledFacilitator?, Roger Shwartz
• SkunkWorks?, Ben Rich
• TheLeadershipMoment?, Michael Useem
• SourcesOfPower, Gary Klein
• HandbookOfSemiotics?, WinfriedNoth?
• TrustInOrganisations?, Kramer, Tyler
• ThrivingOnChaos?, TomPeters?
• EmbodiedMind?, Varela
• Flow, Csikszentmihalyi
• DistributedMind?, KimballFisher
• LeadershipAndTheNewScience, MargaretWheatley
• OnDialogue, DavidBohm?

New recommendations

• HowToBeInteresting?, EdwardDeBono (About conversations)
• NonViolentCommunication?, MarshallRosenberg? (About conversations)
• StructureOfMagic?, Bandler & Grinder (About NLP)

More to come.

Current Book Stack

• ThePhenomenonOfLife?, Christopher Alexander
• APatternLanguage, Christopher Alexander
• RevisingBusinessProsse?, Richard Lanham
• ArtOfWar?, SunTzu
• JustMakeMe?, ??
• LeadingSelfDirectedWorkTeams?, Kimball Fisher
• TeamBuildingActivitiesForEveryGroup?, Allana Jones
• TheCompleteFacilitatorsHandbook?, John Heron
• Workshops, Jeff Brooks Harris
• TheWisdomOfTeams?, Jon Katzenbach & Douglas Smith
• LeadingChange?, John P. Kotter
• NecessaryButNotSufficient?, Eli Goldrat
• GettingPastNo, William Ury

Currently reading - (Most recent first):

• Mastery, GeorgeLeonard (Buy)
• RequirementsByCollaboration?, Ellen Gottesdiener
• Experiential Learning, David Kolb (Sell)
• IntroductionToNLP?, JosephOConnor (Buy)
• Maverick?, Ricardo Semler (Hold)
• SituatedLearning, JeanLave? & EtienneWenger? (Borrow)
• FlawlessConsulting, Peter Block (--)
• Synchonicity, Joseph Jaworski (Borrow)
• BirthOfTheChaordicAge, Dee Hock (Buy)
• PurpleCow, Seth Godin (Buy)
• BuiltToLast?, Jim Collins (Buy)
• HowChildrenFail?, John Holt (Borrow)
• TheAccelleratedLearningHandbook?, Dave Meier (Strong Buy)
• WaltzingWithBears, Tom De Marco & Tim Lister (Borrow)
• CrucialConversations, Kerry Patterson (Hold)
• Chaos?, James Gleick (Borrow)

Software etc:

• SoftwareByNumbers by Mark Denne and Jane Cleland-Huang (Borrow)
• Slack, TomDeMarco (Strong Buy)
• LeanSoftwareDevelopment, MaryPoppendieck? (Strong Buy)
• AgileSoftwareDevelopment, AlistairCockburn (Strong Buy)
• TheDeadline, TomDeMarco (Strong Buy)
• Peopleware, TomDeMarco (Buy)
• ExtremeProgrammingExplained, KentBeck (Strong Buy)
• PlanningExtremeProgramming?, KentBeck & MartinFowler (Sell)
• WritingUseCases?, Alistair Cockburn (Buy)
• PatternsForEffectiveUseCases?, Steve Adolph et al (Borrow)
• SoftwareCraftsmanship, PeteMcBreen?

Business etc:

• TimelessWayOfBuilding?, Christopher Alexander (Strong Buy)
• ManagingTheDesignFactory, Donald Reinertson (Strong Buy)
• LeanThinking, James Womack (Strong Buy)
• OptionsFuturesAndOtherDerivativeSecurities?, John Hull (Strong Buy)
• GoodToGreat?, Jim Collins (Strong Buy)
• InnovatorsDilemma?, Christiansen (Strong Buy)
• TheGoal, Eli Goldratt (Strong Buy)
• CrossingTheChasm, Geoffrey Moore (Strong Buy)
• PracticeWhatYouPreach?, David Maister (Strong Buy)
• TheSocialLifeOfInformation?, John Seely Brown (Strong Buy)
• Netocracy?, Alexander Bard & Jan Soderquist (Buy)
• TrustedAdvisor?, David Maister (Buy)
• ManagingTheProfessionalServiceFirm?, David Maister (Borrow)
• TrueProfessionalism?, David Maister (Borrow)
• FifthDiscipline?, Peter Senge (Borrow)

Pure Pleasure:

• TheFrenchLieutenantsWoman?, John Fowles (Strong Buy)
• TheMagus?, John Fowles (Strong Buy)
• TheCollector?, John Fowles (Strong Buy)
• EastOfEden?, John Steinbeck (Strong Buy)
• TheGrapesOfWrath, John Steinbeck (Strong Buy)
• SweetThursday?, John Steinbeck (Strong Buy)
• TheMoonAndSixPence?, W Somerset Maugham (Strong Buy)
• ThePaintedVeil?, W Somerset Maugham (Strong Buy)
• OfHumanBondage?, W Somerset Maugham (Strong Buy)
• JaneEyre, Charlotte Bronte (Strong Buy)
• WutheringHeights?, Emily Bronte (Strong Buy)
• ZenAndTheArtOfMotorcycleMaintenance, Robert M. Persig (Strong Buy)
• Lila, Robert M. Persig (Strong Buy)
• Strange Fruit, Lillian Smith (Buy)

Trashy Pleasure:

• Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson (Strong Buy)
• TheDiamondAge, Neal Stephenson (Strong Buy)
• SnowCrash, Neal Stephenson (Strong Buy)
• Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson (Borrow)
• ThomasCovenantSaga?, Stephen Donaldson (Buy)
• FootRotFlats?, Murray Ball (Strong Buy)
• AmericanGods, Neil Gaiman (Buy)

For my Boys (Aged 2 1/2 and 1 1/2):

• TheWonderfulSoundsMrBrownCanDo?, Dr Seuss (Strong Buy)
• HipposGoBerserk?, Sandra Boynton (Buy)
• TheGruffalo?, Julie Donaldson (Buy)
• WereGoingOnABearHunt?, Helen Oxenbury (Buy)
• HairyMcLary?, Lynley Dodd (Borrow)
• EachPeachPearPlum?, Janet & Allan Ahlberg (Buy)
• FixItDuck?, Jez Alborough (Buy)
• DuckInATruck?, Jez Alborough (Buy)

My rating system is fairly self explanatory. (Strong Buy), (Buy), (Borrow), (Hold), (Sell), (Strong Sell).

I will start adding my Sells etc at a later date

Contactable at:chrisjmatts at hotmail dot com

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Hey Chris, welcome to the game. Take a look at the SimpleRules and start playing.--ade

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