06.26.08
Posted in Reviews, books at 12:46 pm by Nate Smith
Simplexity Why Simple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)
This is a fun book to read purely because it is largely a collection of little illustrative stories plucked from science and history (and the history of science). I also think it relates strongly to the theme of this blog which I was trying to center around subtle and not-so-subtle contradictions in everyday life.
I don’t think Mr. Kluger really reaches any over-arching conclusions about complexity and simplicity except that they are found everywhere and sometimes one may reveal the other at another level.
Simplexity is an an enjoyable book to read, and because it lacks any strong hypothesis it probably will not change your world-view.
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01.18.08
Posted in Geek Culture, Reviews, books at 3:56 pm by Nate Smith
If you work in Information Technology you should be running out to buy this book. Michael Lopp, the author also has a blog which I intend to 
start reading. This book is packed with humour and insighful observations about working in an office, and more specifically, software development offices.
If you are a fan of The IT crowd, The Office, Dilbert, or the movie Office Space you will probably find a lot to laugh at in this book. Good stuff -Funny, insightful, and sometimes even practical. Recommended.
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01.04.08
Posted in Reviews, books at 11:47 pm by Nate Smith
Dune, by Frank Herbert, has long been one of my favorite books. It has complicated plots, interesting science, creative settings, politics, intrigue, and the hero’s journey. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have done a great job of continuing the Dune tradition. The three Legends of Dune novels are the history of the “machine crusade” that is often referenced in Dune and its sequels.
From the dunenovels.com website:
The LEGENDS OF DUNE trilogy details the saga of the century-long conflict, as well as the original breach that formed the deadly feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen. The story includes Tio Holtzman’s development of foldspace and shield technology, the establishment of the Imperium by House Corrino, and the Zensunni Wanderers’ escape from slavery and their flight to the desert world of Arrakis. Readers will also see the seeds of DUNE’s famous Great Schools of the Mentats, the Bene Gesserit, the Suk Doctors, and the Swordmasters.
The books are Dune, The Butlerian Jihad; Dune, The Machine Crusade; and Dune, The Battle of Corrin. I read them over the course of the Christmas and New Year holiday. I am grateful to Mr. Herbert and Mr. Anderson for continuing the Dune stories. These books are all formidable volumes of around 600 pages, leading to one of my main criticicsms. The books are much longer than they need to be, I’m not sure whether the authors or the editors are at fault. It seems there are constant recaps that repeat the same summaries and some descriptions seem needlessly drawn out. The books also feel like they are being churned out of the “Dune factory” at a few points. I didn’t have this sense as much when I read the Prelude to Dune novels (House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and House Corrino). A few times it began to seem like a kid was telling the story, “then the biggest fleet of battleships you ever saw, went from this planet to that planet, but the bad guys were gone”. Descriptions like this seem very shallow when compared to the depths of some of the twisting plotlines.
The books tell the complete story of the Machine Jihad and also reveal the beginnings of several of the institutions in all the later books. This may have been the most interesting aspects to me, the origins of the Fremen, the Mentats, the Bene Gesserits and the Guild. I wish there had been even more detail about the developments of these facets. It seems to me the authors left openings for another trilogy of books: Dune, The Mentats; Dune, the Bene Gesserits; and Dune, Guild.
If you are a fan of Dune, and would be interested in some of the history leading up to Dune, these books tell the story. They are not the best Dune books to start with. Dune, by Frank Herbert will always be the one Dune book that stands alone and outshines the rest.
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03.15.06
Posted in books at 10:15 pm by Nate Smith
I have 
probably read The War of the Worlds four times in my life and each time I have a new perspective on it. I read it most recently after my disapointment over Steven Spielberg’s recent production of “War of the Worlds”.*
During the most recent reading my attention fell to the religious struggles. The curate and his struggle with his faith in God. Is the cruelty of the martian invasion really part of God’s plan? How can a loving God allow something like this to happen. This was a part of the book that I just wanted to get through when I was 12 years old and reading this book.
H.G. Wells’ descriptions of the marians are amazing when you consider the time period he was writing in and the words available to describe them. Its easy to foget how groundbreaking his martians were now that they have been copied so many times since. The term martian itself probably came into use from this work.
The War of the Worlds is a science fiction classic. It has suspense, action, and over-arching moral themes. If you like science fiction - or want to find out if you do, this is required reading.
*In fact, there hasn’t been a decent treatment of The War of the Worlds yet. The 1950’s movie was a disapointment and the Spielberg movie, while effect-laden, didn’t capture the essence of the Well’s version. There is a low budget movie from Pendragon Films that probably comes closest to realizing the authors origninal vision.
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03.11.06
Posted in books at 1:51 pm by Nate Smith
Switching to VoIP is like a lab manual in many ways. It offers hands-on experience with VoIP technology through the use of Asterisk and projects within the book. Switching to VoIP is also a good complement to Asterisk: the future of telephony. many VoIP and Telephony technology and terms are explained. At least in enough detail to give you a basic understanding of the technology.
It was my hope to get a better understanding of CoS and QoS from this book, but unfortunately the treatment of these topics wasn’t as clear as it could have been.
The organization of the content of Switching also leaves a little bit to be desired as it seems a little haphazzard.
The writing style is very easy to read and explanations are generally very good.
If you want to learn about VoIP and Asterisk this is a great place to start, however if you are familiar with VoIP and telephony concepts and want to jump right into Asterisk configuration Asterisk: The Future of Telephony is probably a better match.
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Posted in books at 1:48 pm by Nate Smith
This was arguably the first Asterisk book to market and for many people it was the first “hands-on documentation available. The book borrows (and credits) heavily from on-line resources that were available at the time it was written.
I think there are other books better suited for Asterisk today, but this was the first to explain many concepts in detail.
(first edition)
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Posted in books at 1:03 am by Nate Smith
This is the book for Asterisk at this point in time. Asterisk is a fast-moving open source project so any book that tries to document Asterisk will, at best, only be a snapshot but this book does a very comprehensive job.
If you want to learn your way around Asterisk this book is one of the most authorative you will find.
There is a comprehensive reference on applications and other features that are part of asterisk.
I can definitely recommend this book as the one to use to get started in Asterisk.
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03.10.06
Posted in books at 12:51 pm by Nate Smith
I like this book. Joel is an excellent writer and his topics are applicable to the lives of many people who deal with software or software-like projects. I can’t say I agree with him on everything, but all of his discussions are thought provoking. His writing is conversational and enjoyable too, not dry like academic writings or an RFC.
My favorite chapter is the one that discusses hiring practices. Joel’s philosophy is to hire people who know how to learn. I couldn’t agree more with that.
Of particular interest to me was his discussion about starting from scratch or re-writing software when developing a follow-on to a product. Mr. Spolsky comes down in favor of starting with the existing codebase and improving it and does an excellent job of justifying it.
Joel also has a blog at www.joelonsoftware.com that he uses to test new ideas and scratch his expository itches. His blog is worth reading if you want to get an idea of the flavor of this book.
So if you develop anything that remotely resembles software, you owe it to yourself to read this book and challenge yourself with some of the ideas he presents.
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03.08.06
Posted in books at 2:37 pm by Nate Smith
The Radioactive Boy Scout begins to describe how much trouble anyone can get into if they set their mind to it.
The book tells of a high-school age boy who realizes there are exciting chemicals in use all around us every day. He starts on a quest to collect all the elements without regard for the danger he might put himself or his family in. The story culminates as he is able to create a working reactor that causes hist yard to become radioactive.
This is a fun book to read but my sense is that it could have been about half as long as it was as Mr. Silverstein wanders away from the story a bit or repeats information.
However the depth he went into explain more about the dangers of radiation and chemicals David Hahn came into contact with or created was good for those with a weak background in chemistry.
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